Lake of Honour
by Spider Jerusalem
Summary: There's a new arrival to the Masaki household, and funnily enough he's not a female.


Before we start, right, I'd just like to say that with the exception of Kel Lake, I don't own any of the characters used in this fic, ACI and Pioneer LCD do. I don't know the names of the people who actually created Tenchi Muyo, but I'm sure they're really nice people who wouldn't dream of suing a young writer for using their characters. (I use the word 'writer' in the loosest possible term.) Come on, please don't sue me, I mean there aren't that many gratuitous sex scenes, and most of the swearing isn't used maliciously.  
  
Oh, which reminds me, this fan-fic contains colourful language, so if you're offended by the kind of words they use after nine on T.V, I suggest you stop reading now. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Mind you, it's not as if this fic is going to be similar to anyone, I mean half the characters are aliens for God's sake. I'm sorry if this fic is similar to anyone else's story, it isn't meant to be. I'm sorry if I've offended anyone in the writing of this fic. I'm sorry I lied when I was fourteen... Screw it, on with the story.   
  
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Lake of honour  
  
"So let me get this straight one more time.....You're actually a prince of some far off world, millions of miles away whose people evolved from trees, but you're half human. This lady is a princess of that world, as is her little sister, whom, I might add, cooks great earth food. The girl behind you who seems to be regarding me with a certain air of disgust is, in fact, an infamous space pirate who attacked said world millions of years ago, despite the fact that she doesn't look a day over twenty. The redheaded girl beside me is pirate-girl's mother, despite the fact that she doesn't look a day over twelve. She also happens to hold the modest title of the universe's greatest genius. Erm...The older gentleman on my other side is (or was) a warrior from the tree world, and the blonde behind me is an intergalactic policewoman. Oh yes, and this...thing, is a sort of a cat/rabbit cross breed, the end result of which being a small furry creature with all the cuteness of a kitten, with a fondness for a certain orange root-based vegetable. And it can turn into a spaceship. Hmm. Handy, that."  
  
Amid the nods of agreement from the strange people surrounding him, Kel laid back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. Clearly, he was not going to escape this episode with his sanity without some hot sweet tea and a few years of counceling. He sub-consciously found himself longing for all the advantages being drunk had to offer, but being that there probably wasn't even one bottle of Jack Daniels on this whole god-forsaken rock, he knew it wasn't on the cards. He tried dimly to remember how he had got into this interesting situation. He remembered it like it was yesterday. Rather convenient really, as it was yesterday. Well, he thought it had been yesterday, he had no idea how time worked in this place either. Back in his own world he'd been a private eye, dick, detective, whatever the hell you wanted to call it. He'd been the best in the business too. The police recognised him as a threat to their jobs, that's how good he was. Armed with only two colt 45.'s and a bad attitude he'd fight crime on the streets of Chicago, for whoever coughed up for his disgracefully high prices plus expenses. His last case had seemed petty straightforward, open and shut. Carjacker, one pissed off mayor and a stakeout. Caught the bastard right in the act. Kel had given chase in his own car, a Honda, and a short gunfight ensued. He cased the perp to a large, official looking building, with large mirrored windows and a curved roof. He noticed a large silver sign outside reading "FOURTH DIMENTION RESEARCH LABS". At the time Kel thought nothing of it, I mean all research labs had weird names like that, didn't they? As he approached the entrance to the lab he un-holstered his trusty guns and flicked the safety catches off. God only knew what that guy had in there. As he stepped into the building he instantly knew that this search could take awhile, even without the darkness. Mentally, he cursed himself for not bringing his Mag-Lite. He rolled his eyes, gritted his teeth, and thought of the reward money. The first room he checked had nothing out of the ordinary in it. A few off-line computers, one or two pot plants, a shelf full of thick leather bound boring books, and stacks of notes. The next fifteen rooms were also just like this, as were the thirty-three after that. When Kel had exhausted all of the delights that the first two floors had to offer, he headed down a wide staircase to the basement level. The stairs led down to a single door, made of heavy reinforced steel. Printed on it in bold red letters was the legend: EXPERIMENTAL LAB, AUTHORISED PERSONEL ONLY. Kel noticed at once that the door was slightly ajar.  
  
The room on the other side of the door was a complete change of scenery from the offices on the first two floors. This room had masses of computer equipment, there were wires trailing like electrical snakes weaving this way and that, and from the ceiling there were suspended six giant gas cylinders, labelled Co2, O2, and a lot of other equations, with a lot of O's and 2's. The criminal momentarily forgotten, Kel stared up at the massive cylinders in awe. The cylinders stared back down from the gloom in disinterest. Kel started to walk down the narrow space between the expensive looking equipment, carefully stepping over wires as he went. Eventually, he had reached the end of the room, where he noticed two vertical poles. They looked like they had been designed especially for conducting electricity, as they had the strange balls attached to them, like you see on electrical pylons. Just looking at it, Kel could tell that it was the centre of whatever experiment this was, as all the wires and cables linked together to form an angry mass on either side of the poles. Standing there Kel thought he could detect the faint odour of ozone. He also noticed two particularly thick wires leading up the wall, connecting to a master switch. Overcome by an insatiable curiosity, Kel gripped the handle of the switch, felt it's roughness beneath his fingertips. After pausing for a minute Kel reached his decision and threw the switch upwards. Almost at once he heard the hum of electricity flowing through electrical cables, and the smell of ozone intensified. After a few seconds a spark shot across the two poles with a loud crack, making Kel jump backwards and shield his face with his arms. The spark crept slowly downwards, creating a space in between the two poles. The space in between the two poles and the two sparks just looked white, but it was giving off heat and light. Kel slowly let go of the switch, and took a cautious step towards the white light. He raised his hand and felt the heat that was given off, and then he stopped. 'I can't believe I'm doing this," he thought briefly before thrusting his hand into the light. It felt warm, nice. Kel felt the warmth creep all over him and he closed his eyes to savour it. A few seconds later he opened his eyes and saw to his horror that his whole arm was distorting, stretching out, towards the light. Franticly, he pulled with all of his strength, with a small scream, pulled his hand from the warmth, and desperately started examining it for stretch marks. Idiot, he thought to himself, he'd probably given is position away. Suddenly, the soft subtle swish of metal focused Kel's thoughts like only a specially weighted throwing knife can. Kel spun round, drew both guns and jumped to the left, but he moved so fluidly that it seemed like just one movement. Before he hit ground he managed to squeeze off two shots, the first of which slammed into the already airborne knife, instantly changing it's trajectory. The second bullet ploughed into the attacker's shoulder, cracking his frail body to the right. As his shoulder exploded into a red mist, Kel estimated that he had shattered his opponent's collarbone. The bullet continued its path through the perp's body, closely followed by a large piece of fatty flesh belonging in the perp, and ricocheted off the back wall, and ended it's short but eventful journey by embedding itself in one of the large O2 canisters hanging from the ceiling. Kel's last thoughts as he heard the "WHOOSH" of the oxygen escaping and the "BOOM" of it igniting were:   
  
"Oh, shit."  
  
And then...Then he couldn't remember anything. The next thing he knew he was in a bed in a house, and there was a young girl sanding over him. She had long blue hair in two pigtails that came down to her feet, big bright pink eyes, and a cute dance of freckles across the bridge of her nose. There was a strange marking on her forehead, but Kel was too tired to really think anything of it. She looked about twelve or thirteen, although he found out later that she was a good few hundred years his senior.  
  
"Umm, mister Lake?" the blonde girl asked nervously, shaking Kel from his thoughts.  
  
"Hmn?"  
  
"Would you like some more tea?"  
  
"Oh, thank you, that would be great, miss...?"  
  
"Oh, just call me Mihoshi, okay?"  
  
"Ok, thanks...Mihoshi."  
  
As she walked away, Kel couldn't help but eye her up and down. She was beautiful, no doubt about that. Her skin was tanned a healthy brown, and her luscious long golden blonde hair was tied up into a ponytail. Her big blue eyes bore no evil, and by anyone's standards this girl had a fantastic body. There were just...One or two things that were not quite right. Her smile...There was something Kel didn't like about her smile. Mentally, he formed an image of her smile in his mind. It took him a minute to put his finger on it. This girl had fangs. Okay, not inch long Dracula fangs, just over developed incisors. Even so though...And there was something wrong with her ears too. It was as if this girl just wasn't... wasn't quite...human. Kel quickly abandoned this particular line of thought, as he didn't like where it was taking him. He instead focused on the last twelve hours again. Now that he came to think about it, the supposedly top secret experimental lab had been awfully easy to infiltrate. There wasn't even so much as a security guard to stop him. The way the perp had led him to straight to it was strange as well, in fact, the chase, the gunfight; everything had seemed too precise, too well planned. And the throwing knife! Whoever his attacker was, he knew that it would be dangerous to fire a gun in the lab. Kel was starting to feel like the pub was shut and he was holding the bill. Nevertheless by all accounts Kel was lucky. He was caught in the middle of an oxygen explosion, right? He should be dead right? Suddenly fear gripped Kel's stomach and promptly injected it full of butterflies. A terrible thought had just struck him: what if he was actually dead, and whatever plain of existence he was now on was what passed for an afterlife? It couldn't be hell; there were too many busty females there for that, but it couldn't possibly be heaven either, as he still felt like shit. No, he was definitely alive. But that begged the question: Where the hell was he? Unless...no, it couldn't be...naa, stupid idea. Kel decided to stop thinking for a while, as his brain was disobeying direct orders and kept making him thinking about things he didn't want to. He collapsed back into the chair and stared into space. His short brown hair fell down his forehead and waged a war with his eyebrows for space. He closed his green eyes momentarily, and then opened them again suddenly. The white t-shirt he wore was drenched with sweat, so he unbuttoned his grey shirt to cool down. He wore a pair of faded denim jeans, with a black leather belt looped through them. Kel smiled to himself; personally he thought it was his lucky belt that had saved him. Enough thoughts for now, it was time for sleep. Kel started to think how rude it would be for him to just crash in this family's house, but he quickly corrected himself and stopped thinking. Sleep.  
  
Kel awoke with a start. He'd just had one of those dreams where you're falling, and just before you hit the ground you wake up. Kel had heard somewhere that if, in your dream, you actually hit the ground, you die. He'd also heard somewhere that the feeling that you get when you've woken up, like you've just fallen from a great height, is because your breathing has become too shallow, and your brain sends an electrical charge through your nervous system to wake you up. Kel heard a lot of stuff.   
  
Interestingly enough, Kel's first thoughts as he woke up were 'Aww, I'm still here!' The first thing he noticed was that he had been moved to sofa, and somebody had removed his shirt and gun holsters, and placed a blanket on top of him. Damn. His guns. He'd wanted to keep quiet about those, I mean there were women and children in this house, for Christ's sake. Another thing was, he didn't want these seemingly friendly people to think that he was a criminal, a psychopath, or both. The first things that Kel did were sit up, cough, and briefly contemplate suicide. Presently, he became aware that there was someone else in the room with him. Looking up, he spied the redhead across the other side of the room. She wore pink silk pyjamas, and leaned against the doorframe casually, the sole of one foot pressed against the wall. She didn't look any older than nine, body-wise, but her face gave her away. It was a face that said she knew more than she was letting on. A lot more. Her arms were folded in front of her, and her hair flowed down her back. Her hair! Kel had never seen anything like it before. Spider plant meets explosion in wig factory was probably the best way to describe it, with spikes seemingly pointing in every compass direction. It was also the deepest shade of red that Kel had ever seen, and yet it looked strangely natural. Her deep green eyes looked Kel up and down, and he got the feeling that her sly smile was hiding something.  
  
"Mornin'" she said with a grin, in a strange accent.   
  
"Ahh, yeah, morning."  
  
What was this girl's name again? Kel racked his brains, but couldn't grasp it. He knew that it began with a "Y"... No, a "W". W... Was... Wash...?  
  
"It's Washu."  
  
"Oh, thanks. Sorry 'bout..." Kel froze mid-sentence as his brain paused to try and figure out what the hell was going on. His confusion/terror must have shown, because the girl threw back her head in laughter.   
  
"No, (tee-hee) no I am sorry." The girl said, wiping her eyes. She opened one of her hands to reveal a miniature black box, not unlike a pager.  
  
"See this? It's my latest invention. It's something of a thought radio; it picks up on the individual frequency of your brain waves and displays them for me on this little screen here." She indicated to a small screen on the box.  
  
"Buh?" Kel exclaimed thoughtfully.  
  
Washu sighed. Just like the others, she thought.  
  
"In layman's terms, what it means is that I, the great Washu, can read your mind!"  
  
"WHAAAT!?" Kel shouted, more out of fear than amazement.   
  
"Don't read my mind! You don't know where it's been! Wh-what I mean is, there are areas of my mind that aren't suitable for, well, anyone!"  
  
"Oh, don't worry about that. This thing only reads your practical thoughts, like "What should I have for breakfast? It can't pick up on your deeper, personal desires."  
  
"Thank god for that..." Kel sighed, in genuine relief.  
  
"No" Washu continued. "For that I'd need to use this." Washu, hardly able to control her mirth, opened her other palm to reveal a seemingly identical little black box.  
  
Kel's brain panicked again. Then Kel wondered why he seemed to just accept what the girl had said. He supposed that when you've been blown up and then wake up in a strange house with people you don't know you tend to lose your scepticism. Then he noticed that Washu had discarded the 'thought radios' on the nearby coffee table. She started to walk slowly, purposefully towards Kel, invading his personal space. She then leaned towards Kel's face. When her lips were just a few inches from his, she spoke.  
  
"And may I say, Mister Lake," Washu moved her face to the side of Kel's, so that she was speaking directly into his ear:  
  
"You, you are a very dirty boy." Washu giggled and backed away.  
  
"Listen, I am so, so sorry. You see my brain has been very rebellious of late, and I can't make it behave or..." Kel stammered.   
  
"It's alright," Washu grinned, cutting Kel off. "You should see what that Tenchi boy thinks up to."  
  
Kel nodded slowly. Yes. Yes, he could believe that. It was a miracle that the lad could go about without a twenty-four hour erection. For the second time in as many days, Kel seriously considered going outside and blowing his head off. Damn, he'd just remembered. His guns.  
  
"Ah, excuse me, Miss Washu?"  
  
"Just call me Washu, okay? Don't bother about the miss."  
  
"Err, okay Washu, have you by any chance seen my er, my er...Guns?"  
  
Washu frowned.  
  
"Oh yes. Those things."  
  
Mentally Kel sighed. Great. Just Great. Now he was probably going to get some big long lecture about how guns are bad, and how they can hurt people, and how he really should destroy them, and then sell all his belongings and change his name to fluffy-tail-kitten-coat, and live in the woods and finally end his days wrapped around the last tree he ever hugged. Whoop-de-fucking-do.  
  
"Such primitive weapons." Washu commented, absent-mindedly flicking an imaginary piece of fluff off her pyjama top.  
  
"Mnmph?" Kel grunted, taken off guard. Washu looked up at him.  
  
"Your guns. Very primitive. I wish you'd switch to something more modern." She sighed. "Never mind, never mind. Here you go." Washu lifted Kel's brown leather twin holsters from the back of nearby chair, and handed it to him. 'At last' Kel thought. 'A woman who doesn't object to blowing the crap outta' stuff'. Kel unbuttoned the left gun pocket, and slowly eased the shining silver gun out, making sure that the safety catch was firmly in place. Something wasn't right though.  
  
"Hey," Kel exclaimed. "What's happened to these?" The gun looked the same, but the weight was somehow wrong. It seemed heavier. Kel also noticed a dial set into he grip, no bigger than a penny. There was a series of numbers set along the outside of the dial.  
  
"What the hell...?" Kel whispered.  
  
"Ah!" Washu said making Kel jump. "I see you really have an eye for detail when it comes to these matters. "I've modified those guns ever so slightly for you. You lock and load as normal, but then you set the dial for what kind of bullets you want to use. You can switch between armour piercing, shatter, rubber, nail, flare, grappling, flame, and explosive."  
  
"Cool!"  
  
"Hmm, I thought you'd like them, you being a man and all."  
  
"Wow, thanks!"  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
"Erm, just one more thing Washu..."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Where the hell am I?" This question appeared to take Washu by surprise, and it took her a moment to prise her eyebrows from her forehead.  
  
"You mean to say that you don't know? Oh my God, you really are like the others aren't you? I was monitoring your thoughts last night, (well to make sure you weren't a criminal or a psychopath, of course!) and I can tell you that you suspect the truth."  
  
"You mean..."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Oh, great. Then how, pray tell, can I get back to my own frigging dimension?"  
  
"Ah."  
  
"Ah?"  
  
"Ah."  
  
"Is that 'Ah' as in 'Ah I can help you' or 'Ah' as in 'Ah, you're screwed'?  
  
"The latter, I'm afraid. You see, there is an infinite number of dimensions. The rift you crossed through, just by pure chance, brought you here. I'm guessing that, from your thoughts, dimension travel on your world is in its infancy, which probably means that you 'travelled' here with no guide or aim. Random exit, basically. Even if we did manage to return you to your home world, there would be no way of telling if it was in fact your world, or one of the millions of worlds that are slightly different to your world. Unless you know the exact molecular balance of your dimension (which I'm guessing you don't), I can't get you back. Sorry."  
  
"So that's it then, is it? I'm stuck here, am I?" Kel asked frustratedly.  
  
"Well, yes, but on the bright side, this dimension isn't too far from your own, is it?"  
  
"What d'you mean?" Kel asked, suddenly looking up.  
  
"The grass is green on your world right? The sky is blue, right? Most things are the same, right? In fact..." Washu said eyeing Kel more closely, "You're wearing Levi jeans. They're manufactured here too."  
  
Washu finished, brightly. Kel completely failed to look happy. Washu's smile disappeared as she realised what the strange boy must be going through.  
  
"I'm sorry. It must be hard leaving your family and friends behind." Washu said in a quiet voice.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose so. I don't have any family, but I will miss my friends."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't be."  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence. Kel continued to eye his newly modified guns, fascinated. Finally he spoke.  
  
"Listen, I think I'd like to go and practice with these for a while. Is there anywhere I can go?"  
  
"Yeah, just go into the woods. It's literally meters from the house." Washu smiled. "But you'll have to use these." She tossed Kel a small cardboard box. Kel caught it with one hand. "Regular bullets won't work in those anymore. I'll see you later."   
  
"Thanks, yeah see you later," Kel said, his attention still focused on the guns. He quickly dressed, pulling his leather holsters over his arms, and slipping the gun that he'd removed back in place. He then pulled his grey shirt over the top, but didn't bother to button it up.  
  
As he stepped out of the front door he took a deep lung full of the crisp morning air. It felt good, clean. It smelt of blossom and honeysuckle, with just a hint of pine. The still morning was interspersed with birdsong, and the low sun reflected off the lake. Kel had no idea exactly how he'd arrived here. No, wait, he did: Luck. Kel thought that it would be shame to disturb the peace, and he almost returned to the house. Then he reminded himself: He had new guns to play with! Besides, if he walked far enough into the forest, nobody from the house would hear him. No problem.  
  
Unbeknownst to Kel, he was being watched from one of the upstairs bedroom windows. Sasami, and the small cabbit Ryo-oh-ki sat and watched Kel from the window ledge. Ryo-oh-ki looked up to Sasami with a puzzled expression.  
  
"You know Ryo-oh-ki, I haven't really had a chance to introduce myself to our new guest." Sasami said slowly, carefully. "Perhaps I should go meet him?"  
  
"Mia-Meaow!" exclaimed Ryo-oh-ki in approval.  
  
"Great!" said Sasami happily. "I was hoping you'd feel that way!"  
  
Sasami headed for the door, closely followed by Ryo-oh-ki. Sasami turned round and looked down at Ryo-oh-ki. Ryo-oh-ki looked up at Sasami. Picking Ryo-oh-ki up Sasami stroked her fur for a few moments, then said:  
  
"I don't think you'd better come along, Ryo-oh-ki. He'll be practising with his guns up there. You won't like it." The cabbit seemed to consider this for a few seconds before meaowing in agreement. Sasami replaced her on the floor, where upon she hopped back onto the window ledge, yawned, curled up and began to sleep contentedly. Satisfied, Sasami walked out of the door. A few moments later she was heading towards the edge of the forest, after Kel.  
  
"WHOA!!" Kel commented as the stone disintegrated into a pile of dust. He decided that he just had to see the armour piercing function one guns again. Scouting round for another golf ball sized rock to throw, Kel adjusted the dial so that the minute arrow was pointing to 'one'. Finding a suitable stone, Kel picked it up and tossed it up and down, checking the weight. Satisfied, he adopted the typical baseball pitcher's stance, and hurled the target as high and as far as he could. Hitting it was simplicity; the hard part was drawing and firing off a round before the rock hit home. Kel drew his gun, spun it around his trigger finger once, and fired off a round, flicking the gun upwards as he did so, Cagney style, as if it would lend extra speed to the bullet. Kel knew it wouldn't, but he got a kick out of it all the same.  
  
"WOW!" Kel stated as the second stone went the same way as the first. The fragments of splintered rock were just falling from the atmosphere when Kel heard a noise.  
  
'SNAP!' Sasami looked down in horror at the dead stick that she had just trodden on. How could she have been so careless? She quickly stepped behind a tree just as Kel's head flicked round towards her. 'Great.' She thought. 'Now he's going to think I was spying on him.' She hadn't wanted to spy on him, she just thought she'd watch him awhile, see how good he was. She was impressed. Sasami stayed with her back pressed against the bark pressed against the bark for a few more moments. She felt it's cool rough dampness. Maybe Kel had dismissed the noise as an animal, she thought. Maybe he was continuing to practice, and was just looking for another stone. Maybe...  
  
"Just how long do you plan to hide behind that tree, Sasami?" Kel called out with a laugh. Realising that she had been spotted, Sasami elected to try and make the most dignified entrance she could. She may have succeeded too, had she not tripped over a root on the way.  
  
"Oouff!"  
  
"Oh, are you alright Sasami? Here, let me help you up." Kel bent down and took hold of Sasami's upper arm, lifting her from the forest floor.  
  
"Ohh," Sasami breathed as she found her balance. "Thanks for that."  
  
"No problem." Kel said with a smile as he started to walk back to his training area.  
  
"You...You remembered my name?" Sasami asked, surprised.  
  
"Oh, yeah! You're the girl who watched over me in my bed, right? I never did thank you. I really appreciate that."  
  
Sasami threw her arms back behind her head and blushed.   
  
"Aww, well it was nothing really..."   
  
"No, really, I mean it. Thank-you."  
  
"That's alright." Sasami answered with grin.  
  
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Kel said, not turning around.  
  
"Why, no, not at all." Sasami answered. Kel looked at the floor. He'd have to be careful here; he didn't want to hurt Sasami's feelings.  
  
"Well... Is there a reason you came up here after me like this?"   
  
Sasami looked hurt. Kel felt like shooting himself for the third time in two days.  
  
"Would you rather I left?" Sasami asked quietly.  
  
"Oh, no, no, no. No. Actually I'm glad of your company." Kel said hastily. Sasami seemed to brighten up. "I'm just curious, that's all."  
  
"Oh, well," started Sasami, blushing again. " I didn't have a chance to say hello properly before, and, er..." her voice trailed off.  
  
"And?" Kel enquired.  
  
"Oh, Mister Lake, please can I watch you train?" Sasami said, running over to Kel. Kel crouched down so he was the same height as Sasami. "I saw you shooting before, and your aim...It's amazing!" Kel smiled. Now he got it. Sasami wanted ho see him practice.  
  
"Sure you can Sasami. In fact, I as wondering if you'd help me with something." Kel grinned. Sasami looked at him with her head cocked to one side.  
  
"I think we'll try a nail one this time, Sasami!" Kel called out. Instead of replying, Sasami threw a small fir cone as high and as far as she could. Kel followed its trajectory with the barrel of his modified colt.45, and squeezed off a round. A three-inch nail discharged itself from the gun and hit the cone dead centre, impaling it to a nearby tree. Kel saw a faint wisp of smoke drift upward from it.   
  
"Sasami," Kel called out again, "where are we?"  
  
Sasami stopped, about to hurl another cone.  
  
"What do you mean?" she asked in genuine surprise.  
  
"What country?" Kel asked. Sasami looked taken aback. Kel started to wonder if he'd said something incredibly stupid.  
  
"Why, Japan, of course!" Sasami said in bewilderment. Now it was Kel's turn to look taken aback. Japan? He wondered if he'd heard correctly.  
  
"Japan? But then how come you're speaking English?" He said. Sasami now looked more confused than ever.  
  
"I'm not speaking English, I'm speaking Japanese!" She stated, not having a clue about what Kel was talking about.  
  
"Oh." Kel said, figuring it out. "Where I come from the language we're speaking now is English. Here it's Japanese."  
  
"WOW!" Sasami commented in amazement. "What a coincidence!"   
  
"Yeah, I must admit, that's weird. And a little convenient." Kel thought out loud. He supposed that this was just another one of the strange differences between worlds that he would just have to endure. "So do they speak this language on your world as well? What's it called again? Jury?"  
  
"Jurai."  
  
"Yeah, that."  
  
"Yes, they do as a matter of fact. Now that you mention it, it does seem a little strange doesn't it?" Sasami mused. She paused for a moment or so. "Are you from England, then?" She asked. Kel turned around to face her for the first time since he'd stopped shooting.  
  
"Certainly not!" He said with a smile, feigning outrage. "I'm American." Sasami nodded slowly taking in all the information. Kel turned back to his makeshift training ground. He immediately noticed that the fir cone he'd nailed to the tree earlier had stopped smouldering. Kel decided to change the subject.  
  
"So what's the story with Ayeka and Ryoko?" Kel asked.  
  
"You're good with names." Sasami commented, impressed.  
  
"Naa, it's just 'coz I'm a guy. I remember most girls names," Kel said as he fired a shatter bullet into a nearby tree-stump. The bullet disintegrated a surprisingly large amount of it with a satisfying crunch. Sasami smiled and rolled her eyes at Kel.   
  
"Well, you've probably noticed that they're always arguing. It's because they're both in love with Tenchi." Sasami explained. Kel turned around again. This was getting juicy.  
  
"Yeah?" Kel said in interest.  
  
"Or at least they think they are." Sasami replied. "Y'know, if it wasn't for their love of Tenchi they'd probably be best friends."  
  
"Well, well," Kel said stroking his chin. "Lucky Tenchi."  
  
"He'd have you believe otherwise." Sasami answered solemnly.   
  
"Really? Why?" Kel said in surprise.  
  
"Well, see, he can't commit to one without hurting the other. He's absolutely terrified of hurting someone's feelings. And it's tearing him apart. And the longer it goes on the worse it gets."  
  
"Wow, seems ol' Tenchi has a real problem on his hands." Kel turned to the forest. Pausing to adjust the dial one the grip on one of his guns, he raised it into the air, so that it was pointing at the upper branches of a large Oak. He cocked back the hammer, and squeezed the trigger gently. A pointed bulled with a barb set into it spat itself from barrel, followed by a thin, yet high-tension wire. The bullet embedded itself in a particularly sturdy looking branch. With the wire trailing loosely from the barrel of his gun to the treetop, Kel stared up at it in wonder. Suddenly the wire became taught, and Kel was pulled forward before he was lifted off his feet completely, as the wire began to reel itself in. Sasami looked up in mild amusement as Kel was hoisted up the full thirty feet or so. He finally reached the top, and was left dangling like some mad tree decoration.  
  
"Sasami," he called down. "D'ya fancy taking a break?"   
  
"I'm starving, let's eat!" Sasami shouted running ahead of Kel. Kel nodded in agreement and smiled. Food did sound good, he hadn't eaten since before his dimension-hopping excursion, but he was still a little apprehensive. He never had liked Japanese food. Still, breakfast was breakfast. Getting down from the tree had proved easier, if not more painful than Kel had imagined. True, he was now nursing a large bruise in the small of his back, and he still hadn't quite caught his breath, but the important thing was, he was down. He and Sasami were now picking their way through the forest towards the house. He was actually apprehensive of meeting everyone properly for the first time as well, because, quite frankly, he was scared to death of them all. But then he'd have to meet them sooner or later. They entered the living room by way of the sliding window doors, and Sasami made her way to the kitchen to make breakfast 'Japanese style'. Oh, goodie. So there he was, trapped in a house full of people that he was terrified of, and fresh out of bullets. His eyes scanned the room slowly. He saw that not everyone was up, thank God. Sitting on the sofa opposite the television was none other than the Princess Ayeka, sipping from a cup of tea. Kel recognised her immediately; she looked so much like her sister. He also noticed a girl he had not seen before. She was leaning against the wall in the far corner of the room, her jet-black hair flowing down her back. She wore a denim jacket, minus the arms, a black tee shirt, and a sort of white mini skirt thing over the top of black leggings. A red headband, black leather cycling gloves and boots to match the mini skirt thing completed the message: Don't fuck with me. She was eyeing Kel suspiciously. Kel smiled nervously and nodded a greeting in her direction. With out removing her gaze from him she pushed away from the wall and left the room. For the fourth time in two days Kel contemplated suicide. He looked back to Ayeka, who was still sat on the sofa, contentedly. She was wearing a pink dressing gown of sorts, her purple hair catching the light and shining brightly. Two tails of it trailed limply down either side of her head, with a decoration at the top of each. Kel allowed himself a small smile. It looked as though someone had gone through a Christmas decoration box and had stapled what they'd found to either side of her head. As she leaned forward for her tea, Kel noticed that she had a ponytail reaching down to her lower back, tied near the top with a small band. As she sat back down she looked up noticed Kel for the first time. Damn, he thought, now he'd actually have to engage her in conversation. He toyed with the idea of calling her 'your majesty' but quickly dismissed that idea because he'd sound like a ponce.  
  
"Good morning Ma'am," he said as formally as he could. Ayeka smiled in surprise. She wasn't used to being spoken to so politely. Not around here anyway, she thought grimly.  
  
"Good morning, mister Lake." She said in her well-spoken voice.  
  
"Erm, excuse me ma'am, but could you tell me who was standing over there a moment ago?" Kel indicated in the general direction of where the girl had been standing.  
  
"Hmm?" Ayeka said, looking in the direction Kel had pointed. "Oh, that was officer Kiyone."  
  
"Officer?" Kel said, suddenly interested.  
  
"Yes, she's a galaxy police officer." Ayeka replied. Now Kel understood. The girl was sizing him up. He was glad he knew. He'd be more careful about what he did now, he didn't know who the 'galaxy police' were, but if they were anything like the regular police he'd prefer to stay out of their way. Presently, Sasami entered the room with two plates of food. Kel sat down at the impossibly low table, and braced himself. As it turned out, he was in for a pleasant surprise.   
  
Tenchi began to stir. He was awake, sort of, but something inside him was pleading with him to stay asleep. He couldn't yet remember why. He was vaguely aware that if he woke up, he wouldn't like the situation he would be in. No, the thing inside him told him, far better to remain asleep; blissfully unaware of what was going on around him. Finally curiosity got the better of him. He awoke. He blinked a few times as he remembered, and groaned a ten second groan. The thing inside him had this to say: 'Well, I did warn you.' He remembered why he hadn't wanted to wake up, because when he woke up, the fighting started. Two extremely strong characters who had got verbal and physical warfare down to art fought over him day and night. Twenty-four hours a day put-downs, quips and one liners would shoot around the Masaki residence like so much machine gun fire. And he could do nothing about it. It didn't matter what he thought; he was just a slab of meat, a trophy that would go to the winner. He rested his head back down onto the pillow, his deep brown eyes staring at the ceiling. His dark hair and his brow glistened with sweat, and face tried to choose an emotion to perform. It settled for indifference. The funny thing was he couldn't decide which one he liked better. He had long ago decided to pick one; he was still making up his mind. He'd share a joke with Ryoko and feel sure she was the one, but then he'd comfort Ayeka because she fouled up her attempts at cooking for the Nth time, and his perception would be totally flipped. The both of them may have fallen in love with him, but he'd fallen in love with the both them. A prince and a princess, it seemed so natural, but then a prince and a criminal, it seemed so poetic. Well, fine, he loved them both, he could put up with that. But what he absolutely couldn't live with was the fighting. They'd stolen his heart, the least the bitches could do would be to patiently let him make up his mind. Tenchi stopped. He realised that he was starting to mentally rant to himself. He got up, washed, dressed, brushed his teeth, treated himself to a little aftershave, and looked in the mirror. A tired, haggard face looked back at him. He absently wondered what form today's warfare would take, and walked out of the door.  
  
"Mmm, Sasami, these rice ball things are delicious," Kel managed through a mouthful of food. "What do you call them?"  
  
"Riceballs." Came the simple answer.  
  
"Oh, right." Kel answered. He began to laugh, and soon Sasami was laughing as well. The two new friends were still sharing the joke when Tenchi entered the kitchen.   
  
"Hey," Tenchi said by way of a greeting. "What's so funny you guys?"  
  
"R-r-riceballs!" Sasami managed to splutter out, before exploding into a fresh fit of laughter. Tenchi's expression didn't change. He nodded slowly, then spoke.  
  
"Right." was all he could come up with. Suddenly Tenchi was grabbed from behind. This had happened so many times before he had stopped being surprised by it. He recognised the woman's scent immediately. Ryoko, he thought simply. He noticed that Kel had stopped laughing as soon as Ryoko had appeared. Then he realised why. Kel had never seen Ryoko teleport before. Great, he thought, that was it, the war had started. Any minute now Ayeka would walk in (for she always did), and all hell would break loose.  
  
"Mornin' Tenchi sweetheart," Ryoko said enthusiastically, wrapping her arms around Tenchi's neck, hovering a few feet above the ground behind him.  
  
"Yes, good morning miss Ryoko." Tenchi said tiredly. Ryoko smiled, pleased to have been acknowledged. She dramatically closed her golden eyes and squeezed Tenchi all the more. In many ways Ryoko reminded Tenchi of a cat, from her golden eyes to the way she had the tendency to think she was superior to, well, everyone. But then she was also playful, and ultimately a pleasure to be around. When she wasn't fighting with Ayeka that is. Tenchi felt her pale cyan hair brush against the back of his neck and he wondered if she was the one. Quite possibly, but then maybe not. Oh, it was hopeless. Mentally Tenchi began his countdown. Five, four, three, two, one...  
  
"Miss Ryoko, will you kindly unhand my lord Tenchi?!" Ayeka's shrill cry rang out. Tenchi almost smiled. Right on schedule, as per usual. It would have been funny, were he not at the centre of it.  
  
"Well, well, if it isn't the old maid," Ryoko drawled, apparently enjoying the scene. "You're just in time to hear Tenchi propose." Ryoko always started the fights like this, sarcastic and full of her self.  
  
"He is not!" screamed Ayeka. This too was familiar to Tenchi; when Ayeka couldn't think of anything witty to say she usually went for volume. It was usually right about now that he'd get dragged into it.  
  
"It's true, isn't that right Tenchi?" Ryoko said with a smile. Tenchi had long since given up answering questions like this; it wouldn't matter what he said anyway. He braced himself. Ayeka would usually insult Ryoko at this point, and the serious row would begin, namely a vicious tug o' war game. Guess who had the pleasure of being the rope.  
  
"Tenchi would never propose to a filthy space pirate like you!"  
  
Kel surveyed the scene with an air of hilarity. Apart from the initial shock of seeing Ryoko appear in mid-air behind Tenchi, this whole situation was as funny as hell. He'd managed to keep his mouth shut so far, but once they'd both grabbed one of Tenchi's arms and were now pulling him back and forth he could bear it no longer. He couldn't help it. It was hysterical. It was like having your very own chat show right in front of you. This week, love triangles... He burst out laughing. He was aware that everyone in the room was staring at him in amazement. Laughing at one of Ayeka and Ryoko's fights was obviously something that was just not done. But he didn't care. It was too funny for that.  
  
"What the hell are you laughing at?!" Ryoko and Ayeka shouted at him in perfect unison. They exchanged glances with one another, then turned back to Kel. 'Poor lad,' Tenchi thought. 'He'll be ripped apart.' Kel wiped his eyes, and through chokes of laughter, managed:  
  
"I just think it's funny you know? The both of you act like you hate the other's guts, when we all really know that if the situation arose both of you would gladly give your life for the other." He finished. There was a moments stunned silence. It was as if they couldn't believe what was being said.  
  
"WHAAAT!?" Ayeka and Ryoko exploded, again in perfect unison.  
  
"No, really, think about it," Kel continued. "The two of you can't be enemies, because you both share one crucial common denominator: Your love for Tenchi. That one fact unites you, and is what keeps you from killing each other." There was another stunned silence. Ayeka and Ryoko stared at each other in wonder for a second, and then both sniffed, and left the room. Kel smiled, and basked in the looks of amazement he was getting from Sasami and Tenchi. Tenchi was the first to speak.  
  
"How'd you do that?" he asked in awe.  
  
"Do what?" Kel answered innocently, still smiling.  
  
"Do..." Tenchi paused as he tried to find the right word. "THAT?" He settled for. "I mean I've never seen anyone diffuse one of their fights so quickly!"   
  
"Oh, that. It's a talent." Kel replied coolly. "Besides, Sasami filled me in about your, shall we say, problem, so I thought I'd help out. It's the least I could do to say thanks."  
  
Tenchi shot a sideways glance at Sasami, who grinned mischievously back at him.  
  
"Right, well, thanks again!" was all he could think of to say. He nodded his appreciation, and moved past Kel to the kitchen. Kel turned around and winked at Sasami. She smiled back at him.  
  
"Well, I'm off to work the fields," Tenchi said, re-entering the living room. Kel stood up.  
  
"Hey, let me help you out with that," he said.  
  
"Oh, no, you don't have to do tha..." Tenchi started.  
  
"No, no, I want to, I was beginning to feel like a fifth wheel around here." Kel said, cutting him off.  
  
* * *  
  
In the vast darkness of space, millions of miles away from earth, a solitary Jurai ship drifted lazily through the freezing oblivion. At a first glance it looked like a standard Juraian fighter, but when one looked closer it could be seen that it had been heavily modified. Huge chunks of the hull were missing, and machinery of an unknown purpose was mounted at regular intervals around the exterior of it. One thing was clear: the ship's spirit, essence, life force, was dead. It was little more than an empty shell. It hardly looked space-worthy, but looks could be deceiving. The bridge of the ship was dark and dusty, and almost looked deserted. Almost. Breaking the quiet stillness a door at the back of the room slid open. A cloaked man stepped into the room, shadows obscuring most of his face. He was wearing a traditional Jurai battle suit, the long flowing black and white robe, the black gloved hands, even the dark grey triangles on the mans face, it all added up to a Juraian warrior.  
  
"Computer!" the man barked, striding up to the chair behind the crudely assembled computer monitor. "The latest subject did not survive the procedure. Who is next on the list?"  
  
"That would be Tenchi Masaki, sir." The computer answered, in a monotone. The man repeated the name, rolling it around his tongue. He allowed himself a small smile. He was sure he would have the solution cracked in his next test subject.  
  
"Where is he?" He asked.  
  
"Earth, sir. In the ship's present condition it should take us a day to reach him at least." The computer said in the same monotonous voice. The man considered this for a moment before saying:  
  
"Plot a course."  
  
* * *  
  
Kel stared hard at Ayeka. She was weak. There was no way she could win now. She was a fool to think she could take him on. Fear was now set deep into her red eyes, and her brow was wet from perspiration. She was well and truly finished. Slowly a bead of sweat rolled down her cheek. Kel ginned evilly. That was the sign that he'd cracked her. Having beaten all the other weaklings, only Ayeka stood in his way. Once she was taken out of the picture, Kel would be free to reap the rewards.  
  
"Aww, fold!" Ayeka exclaimed, finally defeated.  
  
"Yesss!" Kel hissed through clenched teeth. He placed his cards face down on the table, and scooped up the large pile of yen in the centre of it. "Come to papa!" he said triumphantly. Ayeka was looking considerably distraught. She jumped up and placed her hands on the table, leaning in towards Kel.  
  
"Mister Lake, I must know, were you bluffing?!" Ayeka almost shouted, desperately.  
  
"Sorry, Ayeka, you have to pay to see my cards."  
  
"WHAT?!" she said aghast.  
  
"See, if you'd have matched my bet, then you could have called me. Then I would have had to shown you my cards. As it turned out you folded, so I don't have to." Kel explained.  
  
"But you could anyway..." Ayeka started, clutching at straws.  
  
"No," Kel said frustratedly, cutting Ayeka off. "If I show you my cards and it turns out I was bluffing, then you're less likely to believe me when I try and bluff you in future, aren't you? See?" Kel explained again for what seemed like the eighty-fifth time. Ayeka sat down solemnly.   
  
"I'll have you next hand!" she said almost threateningly to Kel. Kel smiled. He'd created a monster. Kel thought that they were never going to learn how to play poker. Teaching it to five women and one man who'd never played it before had proved to be a little trying. Kel could understand the ladies not knowing how to play; after all, none of them were native to this planet, but Tenchi? Kel didn't know what his excuse was. Not much of a gambler, evidently. Kel felt the smoothness of the cards beneath his fingertips as he shuffled them, Vegas style.  
  
"Right, five cards, deuces wild, kitty up then unlimited stakes." He said. He looked up into a sea of blank faces. "Same as before." He explained.   
  
He dealt the cards, five to each player. As he lifted up his cards and fanned them out as discreetly as he could, he felt the warmth in his stomach that only a full house could bring. Three jacks, two queens, the red of the hearts clashing violently with the black of the spades. He fought the urge to smile. It was difficult. All in all, it had been a pretty good day for Kel, although he wished he hadn't offered to help Tenchi on the field. Every muscle in his twenty one-year-old body was aching from not warming up before working. After he had introduced himself to Kiyone, she had softened to him, and apologised for her behaviour that morning. Apparently, she was suspicious because they had been visited by people/creatures from other worlds/space before and most of them had wanted to arrest them/kill them/chop them into tiny bits. Kel could understand that. Tenchi had said he could stay as long as he liked, which was rather convenient for Kel, as he had nowhere to go. Tenchi had also provided him with some invaluable advice to live by in the Masaki residence, such as never drink anything Washu gives you, and make yourself scarce when Ryoko is having a bad day. Pretty standard stuff, really. He also put Kel out of his misery be telling him that all of the women were not native to earth. So, they had hair that defied gravity, so what, they were aliens, it was okay. Sasami had organised a party for the following day to welcome Kel to the group. He felt like he had made some good friends. Sasami had gone to bed at a sensible hour, so Kel had suggested that he should teach the older members of the group the virtues of gambling. He'd handed all of his American dollars over to Washu; She'd assured him that she could make use of them, and had given him some of the local currency in return. And here he was, shamelessly relinquishing armatures of their cash. He'd asked Yosho, the old gentleman and former Juraian warrior person, if he wanted to play. He'd declined, as Kel suspected he would, and went up to the shrine. Kel got the impression that he knew a lot more than he was letting on. He just seemed quiet, thoughtful. Kel knocked back his sake with a backward thrust of his head. A really good day. Kel started to raise the stakes, slowly at first, growing steadily larger each time he had his turn. They weren't actually playing with all that much money, but it seemed like millions when you lost it. He, of course, kept his cards. Kiyone was the first to fold, followed swiftly by Tenchi, Nobuyuki, Washu, Ryoko, and after much indecisiveness, Ayeka. That left only him and Mihoshi. Kel smiled. Easy pickings.  
  
"Well Mihoshi, it all rests with you. What's it gonna be?" Kel said, obviously enjoying himself. Mihoshi stared blankly at her cards.  
  
"Err, how much is it to call?" she said uncertainly.  
  
"That would be one-thousand yen." Kel said with confidence. Mihoshi paused for a few moments.  
  
"Right..." she said. Slowly she picked up the money and placed it carefully in the middle of the table. "Call."   
  
Kel placed his cards face down on the table with a fiendish laugh.  
  
"Full house!" he announced proudly. He leaned back in his chair and smiled at Mihoshi, arms folded. He knew it was mean, but he couldn't help it. Mihoshi looked at his cards, then blankly at her own. She laid them down on the table.  
  
"Ahh, is this a good hand? What does it mean?" She asked.  
  
Kel stared at the cards, his smile fading fast. F o u r A c e s. Four aces plus the wild card. Five Aces! Five sodding Aces! Where was the justice?!  
  
"Do I win?" Mihoshi asked with mounting excitement.  
  
"Yes, you win Mihoshi." Kel answered in a barely audible voice. "Take the money, go take it."  
  
Kel then slammed his head into the table with surprising force, and everyone laughed. Everyone that is, except for Mihoshi. She instead looked over the table at Kel to make sure he was all right. How could it have happened? She had the best hand possible, and he had one was very good, so he kept betting confidently! And she had no idea it was a good hand, so Kel couldn't read her. Kel thought for a moment that she must be the best kind of person to play cards. Lucky and brainless. 'Cardshark,' he thought bitterly.   
  
"Right, new game," he said with determination. "Three card brag, no wild cards."  
  
He briefly explained the rules, and dealt the cards.  
  
"A hundred blind." He said. Again he looked into the sea of blank faces, and the evening progressed from there. Kel noticed that everyone's money was drifting gradually towards Mihoshi. 'How lucky can a person be?' Kel thought. After a few more games of everyone losing to a certain lucky blonde, the player's numbers started depleting. Tenchi headed to bed, Ryoko headed for Tenchi, Ayeka headed for Ryoko at high speed, Kiyone headed in search of a decent cup of coffee, Washu headed to the lab and, finally, Nobuyuki headed to his room. Which left Kel alone. With Mihoshi. Kel sighed. Much as he'd love to sit there all night giving his money to Mihoshi, he was getting rather tired. It looked as if fatigue was gripping her too. Sleepily, she draped herself over the table, her voluptuous breasts just brushing its surface. 'Weeell, I could stay just a bit longer,' Kel thought with a smile. He decided to break the silence.  
  
"So how long have you been here on earth?" Kel smiled. He never thought he'd be using that line seriously.  
  
"Oh, someone told you did they? Was it Tenchi?" She said with a smile, stifling a yawn.  
  
"Yeah, it was Tenchi." Kel said.  
  
"I don't really know. 'Bout a year I guess."  
  
"Everyone seems really nice around here." Kel commented, struggling for something to say.  
  
"Yeah, I know, Tenchi and everyone were kind enough to let me stay here till Kiyone and I found a place of our own."  
  
"Oh? You live with Kiyone?"  
  
"Of course I do silly, we're partners." Mihoshi giggled. Kel mentally started to curse as he firmly grabbed the wrong end of the stick. Kel looked at her again. He finally meets a girl he really likes and it turns out she prefers women. Marvellous. 'What a waste,' Kel thought sadly to himself.   
  
"Oh, right," Kel said, desperately trying to keep his disappointment out of his voice and failing miserably. "How long have you been with her?"  
  
"A few years now I think. It seems like we were first assigned together ages ago." She said.  
  
"Assigned? You work together too?" Kel asked. Mihoshi looked at him with a puzzled expression.  
  
"Yeah, like I say, we're partners. We work together." She said. Realisation flooded over Kel like a cool soothing breeze.  
  
"Ohhh, sorry, I thought... Never mind. So you're a galaxy police officer as well, then?"   
  
Mihoshi nodded. Oh yeah, Kel thought. He remembered (vaguely) the conversation he'd had with Tenchi the previous night. Mihoshi didn't look like the type of person Kel had expected a GP officer to look like. But then, Kel reminded himself, looks could be deceiving. Kel glanced down at the table and sighed as Mihoshi laid down a royal flush. Then he smiled. For some bizarre reason, he had no objection to losing to Mihoshi. If it were anyone else he would have left the table hours ago. A far as Kel was concerned; it was worth every penny.  
  
A tiny thought materialised at the back of Kel's brain.  
  
"Hey," it said. "She seems like a nice girl. Why don't you ask her out on a date?"  
  
"What?!" Kel mentally answered. "Come on she'd never go out with me."  
  
"Why?" the thought answered simply.  
  
"Well for one thing I only arrived here yesterday. She'll think I'm weird if I ask her out now."  
  
"Oh, come on, that doesn't matter. What's the worst she could say?" It answered. Kel considered this for a moment. Damn, the tiny thought was overriding his sense of reason.  
  
"Well," Kel thought slowly, "couldn't hurt to try, I suppose."  
  
"That's the spirit!" the thought said to him happily.  
  
"Should I?" Kel said his excitement growing.  
  
"Yes, yes, go on!" the thought said franticly.  
  
"Right, I will." Kel said excitedly. "In a minute." He added.  
  
"Go on then." The thought said.  
  
"I will, in a minute!" Kel answered, slightly irritated.  
  
Right, this was it. He'd ask now. Right now. Yes, in a matter of seconds he'd be asking Mihoshi out on a date. Very soon now. Any second now in fact. In a few short moments he'd ask her out on a date. He'd say 'can I ask you a question', that would be a good opening line.  
  
"Could I ask you a question?" Mihoshi said, instantly derailing Kel's train of thought. Kel must have lost his hearing. No matter how many times he ran it through his mind, it still sounded like Mihoshi had said 'can I ask you a question'.  
  
"Mmn?" He said gormlessly. Mihoshi repeated her previous question.  
  
"Um, yeah sure you can, Mihoshi." Kel said in amazement. He hadn't foreseen this outcome at all. Mihoshi flushed bight red at this point.  
  
"Well, I was wondering..." her voice trailing off. Kel heart was pumping fast, and was threatening to leap out of his chest a la Alien, and shoot off into the night.  
  
"Yes?" He almost whispered.  
  
"I was wondering if we might, well, maybe, Y'know go and see a film or somthin'?"  
  
"Y'mean, like, on a date?" Kel asked apprehensively. Kel didn't think it was possible, but somehow Mihoshi went even redder. Kel roughly estimated that she must have had at least half of all her body's blood in her face.  
  
"Well...yeah..." She managed.  
  
"I'd love to." Kel said, putting her out of her misery. She looked up suddenly almost as if she was surprised.  
  
"Y-you will? That's great! When should we go?"  
  
"Oh, erm, to be confirmed." Kel said. He was too happy about the prospect of going on the date to worry about when.  
  
"On that note, how about we call it a night?" He asked.  
  
"Oh, yeah, it's getting late, I'd better get back to the apartment, Kiyone will be wondering where I am." Mihoshi said, rising from her chair.  
  
"How far away is your apartment?" Kel asked.  
  
"Oh, just a few minutes away, on foot." Mihoshi answered, looking up as she slung her bag over her shoulder.  
  
"Here, I'll go with you." Kel said, scraping his chair back across the floor.  
  
"You don't have to do that..." Mihoshi started with a smile.  
  
"No, no," Kel said, cutting her off. "I want to."   
  
Kiyone lounged back into the armchair nursing a large bowl of popcorn and a can of beer, and sighed happily. It was so rarely that she got some quiet time to herself, what with her job, Mihoshi, calls from head office, Mihoshi, Tenchi and the others, and of course, Mihoshi. Well to hell with them all, now was her relaxing time. She had discovered a film she wanted to see on the t.v and had settled herself down. Until Mihoshi arrived home. Kiyone flinched as soon as she heard the key clatter into the lock. She gritted her teeth, gripped the chair tightly, closed her eyes and braced herself. Now she was probably going to have to listen to Mihoshi babble on all night about what happened to her in the previous few hours, how much she won, how much she lost, etc. Mihoshi entered the room, greeted Kiyone with a simple, cheerful "Hey Kiyone," and headed straight for her room. Kiyone nervously opened one eye. What the hell was going on? Usually when they'd been separated for more than an hour, Mihoshi practically launched herself at Kiyone. Warning bells went off in Kiyone's mind; something must have happened, and with Mihoshi it usually wasn't good. Expecting the worst, Kiyone doggedly pulled herself out of the armchair and followed Mihoshi into the bedroom. There she found her dressing for bed, earlier than usual.  
  
"All right, I'll bite: What's going on?" Kiyone said, leaning against the doorframe.  
  
"Mmm?" Mihoshi mumbled absently.  
  
"What happened?" Kiyone said in a voice that expected the end of the world.  
  
"I don't know what you mean." Mihoshi replied innocently, as she removed her top.  
  
"Come on, you never come home this quietly. You usually never shut up when you come home this late." Kiyone said, her expression unchanging. "So I'll ask you again: what happened?"  
  
Mihoshi shot Kiyone her best blank expression, turned her back on her and removed her bra. Without turning around, she grabbed her sleep-shirt from the bed and slipped her arms into the sleeves, pausing only to lift her ponytail over the collar.  
  
"Fine. G'night Mihoshi." Kiyone shrugged, turning to exit the room.  
  
"No! Wait, Kiyone, I have something to tell you!" Mihoshi cried, spinning round, forgetting to button up her shirt. Kiyone smiled. It never failed. She faced Mihoshi, expertly hid an expression of distaste, and focused her eyes squarely on Mihoshi's face.  
  
"Erm... Mihoshi, could you do up your shirt please?"  
  
"Hmn?" Mihoshi said. Then the penny dropped. "Oh, right, sorry Kiyone," She blushed. She spun on her heels with surprising skill, so that her back was to Kiyone, whereupon she began the task of buttoning up her shirt.  
  
"So, what is it?" Kiyone asked wearily. Mihoshi's stomach contracted and she flushed bright red. She was thankful that she wasn't facing Kiyone.  
  
"I...I have..." Mihoshi started. Kiyone looked bewildered.  
  
"You have...?" She questioned. Mihoshi finished buttoning up her shirt and faced Kiyone.  
  
"Oh Kiyone, I have a date!" Mihoshi cried excitedly, running over to hug her partner.  
  
"Hey that's great!" Kiyone said in a mixture of relief and happiness for her friend. "Okay, that's enough, you're hurting me now."   
  
Kiyone prised herself from Mihoshi's grasp and smiled at her. She was genuinely pleased for her friend; this event took place precious few times. Most men were put off by Mihoshi's accident prone, innocent, bubbly personality.  
  
"Sooo, who is it?" Kiyone asked enthusiastically.  
  
"Erm... Maybe I shouldn't say..." Mihoshi said quietly, still blushing.  
  
"Oh, you can't leave in the dark on this one Mihoshi!" Kiyone grinned, feigning anger. "Is it someone from the Masaki household?"  
  
"Well...yes..."  
  
"Right, so there are four eligible bachelors at the house, but I can't see you going out on a date with either Yosho or Nobuyuki, so of the remaining two who is it?" Kiyone said. He eyes widened for a second. "It's not Tenchi is it?"  
  
"No. But he is cute."   
  
"No, of course not, you'd have been killed on the spot by Ryoko and Ayeka." Kiyone reasoned. Then she grinned.  
  
"When did Kel ask you?"  
  
"He didn't. I asked him." Mihoshi said, matter of factly.  
  
"Whaaaaat!?" Kiyone exclaimed in surprise. "Who are you? Where's the shy Mihoshi I know?"   
  
"Oh, don't tease," Mihoshi grinned.  
  
"What made you want to ask him?" Kiyone asked in great interest.  
  
"Well, he just seemed like such a nice person, not to mention really, really cute. And besides," she added, "he would've asked me out anyway."  
  
Kiyone looked puzzled.   
  
"How'd you know that?" She asked, confused. Mihoshi grinned and opened one of her hands to reveal a small black object, not unlike a pager.  
  
* * *  
  
Kel awoke with a start. Sunlight streamed in through a crack in the curtain and landed lightly on his face. He sat up and shifted around on the sofa so that his feet were in the sun and his head was in the relief of semi-darkness. Then he began his daily wake up process. What his name again? Half asleep, he checked his underwear. Calvin Klein? No, that wasn't it. It did begin with a 'K' though. K...Ke...Kel... Kel? Yeah, that was it, Kel. Now if he could just figure out where the hell he was he'd be in business. Looking around the room though, he knew it was going to be a lot tougher to answer. He knew he wasn't at home, it was far to tidy for that. So where was he? Then he saw his wallet. He remembered how light it had become, he remembered why it had become so light, and he remembered all of the events of the night before. And he lay back and smiled. It wasn't an every day smile, it was the kind of smile people used when they woke up and remembered that they'd won the lottery the night before. She was going to go out with him! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! He stared up at the ceiling in pure contentment. He was starting to miss his own dimension less and less. He swung his legs over the side of the couch, and checked his watch. Eleven o'clock. That was good, Tenchi and some of the more sensible members of the group would be up, and he'd be able to scrounge some breakfast. Bleary eyed he wandered in the vague direction of the kitchen. He could smell something...something good.  
  
"Morning Kel," Sasami's voice cut through the air.  
  
"Hima." Kel grunted by way of a greeting.  
  
"Hungry?" Sasami asked.  
  
"Hmm?" Kel grunted by way of answering.  
  
"How about some breakfast?"  
  
"Mmm mmm!" Kel grunted by way of thanks. Sasami smiled and placed a plate piled high with bacon, eggs, mushrooms, sausages, tomatoes and toast. Kel sat down and allowed the aroma of the perfect fry up to drift into his nostrils. It sure beat the hell out of the crap he would otherwise be eating, were he at home. Ravenously, Kel tore into the most important meal of the day. Suddenly he felt arms wrap around his neck. Female arms. At first he thought it was Mihoshi, but that little fantasy was quickly crushed when he heard the woman's voice.  
  
"Morning Tenchi!" She said. It sounded like she was speaking directly into his ear, which she was. Kel smiled.  
  
"Fraid you've got the wrong guy, ma'am." He said. Ryoko leapt off him as though twenty thousand volts were coursing through him. Kel turned around and looked at her. She wore a mixed expression of guilt, embarrassment, anger and disappointment on her face. It was quite a sight.   
  
"Oh er, um... Sorry." Ryoko stuttered, and promptly teleported from sight, presumably to look for Tenchi. Kel shook his head and returned to his breakfast. She can't have had much luck, as Tenchi had just entered the room.  
  
"Morning Kel, morning Sasami," Tenchi yawned, opening the fridge and taking out the orange juice.  
  
"Morning!" Sasami said cheerfully.  
  
"Morning," Kel managed, between bites. "Do you know that Ryoko's looking for you?"  
  
"Oh, be still my beating heart." Tenchi muttered sarcastically. Kel laughed.  
  
"That bad, huh?"  
  
"You have no idea." Tenchi said in a voice that was almost a groan. Kel smiled again. He was just the picture of happiness today.  
  
"Can someone go and get Washu from her lab? She's been doing an all nighter again and her breakfast's ready." Sasami piped up.  
  
"I'll go." Kel volunteered. "It's the door under the stairs, isn't it?"  
  
Kel rose from his seat and walked to the hallway. He located the door, gasped the door handle and opened it. He was totally unprepared for the sight that awaited him. Big wasn't the word to describe it. It didn't seem to do it justice. Absolutely fucking ginormous seemed to be more accurate. Kel squinted. As far as he cold see, weird machines stretched off onto the horizon. That's how big it was, it had a horizon for god's sake. There were machines of every description, big square chrome ones, Ones that were weird alien shapes, and ones that just can't be described, they just were. There were countless panels of flashing lights and diodes, and electrical cables snaking this way and that, like high voltage spaghetti. There were vast tanks, full of unknown lifeforms, most of which looked larger than the house itself. There was a smell of ozone throughout the lab, and strangest of all, it was almost completely silent, save for the hum of the machines. It was like a regular Sunday afternoon on the Tardis. And at the centre of it all, basking in the magnificence of her own creation sat a tiny figure, typing at immeasurable speeds on a semi-visible laptop.  
  
"T...t...t...t," was all Kel could think of to say. He slowly closed the door.  
  
"T-Tenchi?" He called softly. Tenchi emerged from the kitchen.  
  
"Yes?" He answered.  
  
"We seem to have acquired a, um...a, um, city, under the stairs." Kel said, feeling more than a little faint. Tenchi slapped his forehead.   
  
"Right, the lab," he said as if he'd just remembered something. "Sorry, I should've warned you. That's Washu's lab."  
  
"Lab?" Kel said distractedly. He was still reeling from his glimpse of it.  
  
"Yeah, the lab," Tenchi continued. "It's roughly the size of five planets."  
  
"And yet we keep it under the stairs?!" Kel exclaimed in disbelief.   
  
"Err, yeah." Tenchi said with a cough. "Look, it's best to just not think about it, okay?"  
  
"But..."  
  
"I've been trying to figure out how she did it for ages," Tenchi said, hanging his head. "She somehow tapped into a place existing out of time, did something involving parallel dimensions and somehow fixed it so that her lab and the house can co-exist in the same space and time." Tenchi explained.  
  
"Buh?" Kel replied. Tenchi smiled, and placed his hand on Kel's shoulder.  
  
"We have a city, under the stairs."  
  
Washu stifled a yawn and continued typing. No time for that, she thought. Not that she was working on anything important, just proving for the Nth time that she was and is the greatest scientific genius in the known universe and quite a few of the unknown ones as well. She hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours, but this was fairly moderate for her. Washu's equivalent of a half day was stopping work at midnight. It should be pointed out that Washu had got burning the candle at both ends down to an art. At about one o'clock in the morning when the temptation for sleep usually kicked in, she would start on the coffee. With enough caffeine to paralyse a baby elephant coursing through her veins she would return to work. Next came the depressed stage, where, at about three o'clock in the morning, she would begin to question her choices in life, reminisce about the husband and child she lost years ago, and generally feel bad. Tears streaming down her face, she would emerge from the lab as quickly and as quietly as she could and go in search of candy. That done, she would instantly feel better and would go back to her computer. Next would come the boredom stage, where she would find that she couldn't concentrate on whatever she was supposed to be doing. Her seat would become to hard, she'd become sick and tired of the scenery around her, and, eventually, the dawn would sneak up on her. Given strength by this, she would then work until about twelve. Washu looked up from her computer. She could have sworn that she just heard her crab shaped noisemaker rattle. She glanced over her shoulder, but saw no one. Shrugging, she returned to her cyber laptop. She typed some more of her calculations into it. Then she looked up again. This time she had definitely heard the crab. Rather irritably, she looked behind her a second time. This time, however, there was someone there. A very wide-eyed Kel was making his way towards her, still dressed in his underwear. Washu allowed herself a small smile.  
  
"Morning!" She called amiably.   
  
"Morning," Kel breathed, not meeting her gaze.  
  
"I see you've noticed the size of my lab." Washu grinned.  
  
"It had struck me."  
  
"Yeah, well it's nothing special," Washu said, examining her nails. "Just what I need to do my job."  
  
"Which is?"  
  
"Keeping two princesses, two GPs, three Masakis, a space pirate and a cabbit out of trouble."  
  
"Good luck."  
  
"Thank you. Were you sent down here to get me?"  
  
"Um, yeah, Sasami says your breakfast's ready." Kel said, suddenly aware that he was still in his skivvies.   
  
"Great! I'm starving!" Washu shouted happily. She ran past Kel and out of the lab. Kel took one last look at the monster of a workplace, and followed her. He filed the experience with the ever-growing list of things he was going to have to get used to. When he got outside he found Tenchi there waiting for him. He tossed Kel a bundle of clothes.   
  
"Thought you could use some clean clothes," he said with a smile.  
  
"Hey, thanks!" Kel said in appreciation. "Say, I don't suppose I could have a shower, could I?"  
  
"Sure, up the stairs, first door on the left."  
  
"Thanks again!"  
  
Kel made his way to the bathroom, making a slight detour along the way to hoover up the last of his breakfast. Once he reached the bathroom he firmly locked the door behind him. He started the shower, tested the water with his elbow, stripped off, and climbed in; sighing as the warm water cascaded around him. So there he was, living in Japan, in a house which features included a lab that was the size of five planets, with four alien women, one warrior, one prince, and a bog-standard, normal carbon based human. And with another two alien women living up the road, one of whom he was dating. Kel was surprised at how well he was taking it. A lesser person would have run, screaming into the street ages ago. He suspected, correctly, that it was because his brain hadn't really accepted what had happened to him as real; part of him still expected to wake up on a hospital bed somewhere. 'What the hell,' Kel thought. 'Even if this is all a dream, may as well make the most of it.' His thoughts then promptly drifted to Mihoshi, and he failed to suppress a large, cheesy grin. He stood there grinning like an idiot for another few minutes whilst the warm curtain of water flowed around him. A cool breeze blew into the bathroom through the open window, so Kel pulled the shower curtain around himself, not wanting it to interrupt his warmth. He spied a lone bottle of shower gel on the side of the bath next to him so he grabbed it and squeezed a generous amount into his palm. He then rubbed this into his body. He wasn't exactly muscular, although he would have you believe otherwise. He wasn't fat though, in fact he'd probably have had a six-pack were it not for his tendency to eat junk food. He had a fairly flat stomach and chest, slightly over developed biceps from all of his gun practice. His main strength seemed to be in his legs, as running after wrongdoers will do. The water continued to flow over him, plastering his short dark hair to his head. Suddenly he heard voices drift in through the open window, and he instantly realised that it was Mihoshi and Kiyone talking to what sounded like Sasami. He couldn't hear what they were saying; just make out their voices. He quickly located some shampoo, and massaged it into his scalp. He counted ten seconds and then just as quickly, washed it out. With speed he climbed from the bath and began vigorously towelling himself off. That done he grabbed the clothes which he presumed were Tenchi's, dressed in them, made sure that the bathroom was tidy and stepped out into the hall. The clothes he was now wearing consisted of a pair of jeans, a tee shirt and a grey sweater. He rushed down to the living room, which was thankfully unoccupied. He grabbed his guns and clothes, straightened the cushions on the sofa and bolted back up the stairs. Seemingly waiting for him on the landing was Tenchi. He looked a combination of serious and tired.  
  
"Can I have a word?" He said. Kel closed his eyes for a second. This didn't sound good.  
  
"Um, yeah, sure." He said uncertainty. He followed Tenchi into his room. There was a bed up against the far wall, with the window over it. Against the right hand side wall, quite near he door stood a desk with a CD player and some notes on it. Against the left hand wall there stood a wardrobe nearer to the bed. Tenchi walked over to the bed and sat on it. Kel waited patiently to be told what Tenchi wanted to say. Eventually he spoke.  
  
"You've got to help me." Tenchi said quietly looking at the floor. Kel was a little taken aback. He didn't know what he'd expected Tenchi to say, but it certainty wasn't this.  
  
"Okay..." Kel said suspiciously. "With what?"  
  
"The girls." He answered simply.  
  
"Oh, right," Kel said, finally understanding. "But what makes you think I can do anything?"  
  
Tenchi looked up at Kel for the first time.  
  
"Well, you did such a good job of breaking up their last fight..."  
  
"Yeah but that was different. Where are they now?"  
  
"Out in the woods fighting it out."  
  
"Oh, for Christ's sake, why the hell don't you just pick one?" Kel said, exasperated.  
  
"Hey," Tenchi started, but Kel promptly cut him off.  
  
"Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? You have two beautiful women fighting over you and you're unhappy? Oh yes, my heart bleeds for you." Tenchi had no answer to this so he stared miserably at the floor. Kel suddenly felt a tinge of guilt, surprised by his own angry outburst. He walked over to Tenchi and sat on the bed beside him.  
  
"I'll help you out," he said, "but you are going to have to make a choice. If you drag it on and on, it'll get worse not only for you, but for them." Kel said, trying desperately to cheer Tenchi up.  
  
"I know," he said, tears welling up in his eyes, "but it's so..." his voice trailed off. Kel decided to change the subject. He glanced around the room but saw nothing of interest. Nothing, except for a worn looking book, poking from the shadows of the under side of the bed, just next to his foot. He reached down and picked it up. It looked like it was a graphic novel of some variety, with a female slim voluptuous brunette cartoon character on the cover. Pink Japanese writing adorned the cover, but Kel couldn't understand what it meant.  
  
"Cool! Manga!" he exclaimed. "I love this style of drawing." He seemed oblivious to Tenchi's widened eyes and horrified expression. He opened the book, noticing that spine was on the right. Then he noticed just what kind of manga it was. His eyes widened.  
  
"Shit, Tenchi," He commented, slinging a worried sideways glance at Tenchi. He gave the book to him with a look of disgust on his face. Tenchi was immediately on the defence. Kel silenced him with a wave of his hand.  
  
"Its okay." He said. "You probably need that to stay single around here, right?" He laughed. Tenchi still looked a bit sullen. Kel got up and headed for the door.  
  
"Come on, let's go and break up the cat fight." He said.  
  
"How?" Tenchi called after him. Kel paused and removed his sweater and donned his holsters. He was about to put the sweater back on when he realised that it would restrict access to his beloved shooters.  
  
"Well, as I understand it we can hardly just go up to them and ask them to stop. Mmm. Say, have you got a shirt I could borrow instead of this?" He said, thinking. Bemused, Tenchi grabbed a black shirt from his wardrobe and tossed it to Kel.  
  
"Cheers," Kel replied. Noticing Tenchi's puzzled expression, he added, "I can reach my guns more easily."  
  
Tenchi nodded his understanding. Kel put on the shirt. It was a little tight, but it would do.  
  
"I think only one thing will work." He said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Shock tactics."  
  
The forest was getting fairly fed up. Not least because of the house of weirdo's living next to it, oh no. It provided the house with shelter, fruit and beautiful scenery and was it appreciated? Was it hell. On top of that, the day before one of the little bastards had come and shot some of its trees! He had physically come up to the wood and had started shooting trees. Just for the hell of it! God, it made the forest mad. It briefly considered waiting till he came back and then simultaneously dropping all of it's Oak's on him, but then decided against it; that would be sinking to his level. The wood was even more angry when the two females turned up. It happened at least once a week.  
  
Ryoko looked over to Ayeka who was already in a familiar battle stance, slightly crouched, her head leaning forward, and clenched fists. She looked like she was about to charge. Ryoko herself slipped one hand behind her back, and formed a glowing orange ball of energy in it. It crackled quietly. She smiled slightly, her black cat-like tail swaying side to side in anticipation. She always had been one to fight dirty. In her other hand she conjured up an identical orb, but she clenched her fist around this one, squeezing it into a long slender energy sword. Again she looked over to Ayeka. Already the dark triangular Juraian battle markings had appeared on her face. There was a moment's peace, as neither party moved or spoke. A few stray leaves blew across the soon to be battlefield. Hell, the only thing missing was a clock that read 'twelve noon'. Ryoko was the first to move. She was fast, but not so fast that Ayeka couldn't react. Ryoko's sly energy ball slammed into Ayeka's log shield, and shattered, so that the numerous fragments ran along the shield's outline and ploughed into the forest floor.  
  
"Getting quicker, huh Ayeka?" The already air-borne Ryoko drawled, a dangerous smile cracking across her face. Ayeka didn't respond at first, she just brushed an imaginary speck of dust from her shoulder.  
  
"Either that, or you're getting slower, Ryoko." Ayeka commented, rolling the word Ryoko around her tongue so it sounded like an insult. Ryoko's confident grin collapsed in on itself and became a scowl. Abandoning any hope of thinking of a witty repartee, she screamed and dive-bombed Ayeka, her beam sword raised above her head. Just before impact, Ayeka casually side-stepped Ryoko's cutting blow and simultaneously dropped her shield. She reached out, and, just as Ryoko passed her, dealt a vicious blow to the back of her head with her elbow, just to make sure that she hit the ground with that little bit more force. She may have been a princess, but in love and war she could be just as ruthless as Ryoko. The space pirate smashed into the ground and skidded slightly, creating a nice little Ryoko-shaped trench. She paused for a fraction of a second to spit out the leaves and soil, rolled on to her side and expertly performed a ground sweep, knocking Ayeka's legs out from under her. Having hit the ground with a painful thud, Ayeka's eyes widened and she let out a small scream as she rolled to the right, just in time to avoid Ryoko's downward slash. As Ryoko busied herself with separating sword from floor, Ayeka scrabbled to her feet and put some distance between herself and the demon. Noticing that Ryoko had formed another energy ball, Ayeka thought it would be prudent to blink her shield back on. By this time both of the ladies were now panting (because they were out of breath).  
  
"G-getting tough now, Ayeka?" Ryoko rasped. She turned her head to one side and discharged a large wad of sputum from her lips. Ayeka turned away in disgust.  
  
"Charming," Ayeka panted. "I'm sure Lord Tenchi would love to see you do that."  
  
"Honey, there's a lot of things Tenchi would love to see me do." Ryoko grinned. Ayeka didn't.  
  
"You horrible little bit-"  
  
"HEY!" A third voice cut in, stopping Ayeka's insult. Both girls' heads flicked round to the source of the cry. It was Tenchi.  
  
"I'm fed up with you two fighting." He said. "So stop it. Now." He added, and hoped he sounded threatening. The girls turned back round to face each other.  
  
"No can do Tenchi, this bitch is going down." Ryoko called, not moving her gaze from Ayeka.  
  
"I'm sorry Tenchi, but Ryoko has offended me for the last time, and she will be punished." Said Ayeka, not moving her gaze from Ryoko. Ryoko was just about to launch her latest attack, when a loud crack erupted from somewhere, stopping both fighters dead in their tracks. Kel stepped out from behind Tenchi, his still raised gun giving off a faint wisp of smoke. He lowered the weapon.  
  
"I believe he told you to stop fighting." Kel said quietly, dangerously. Again, both girls faced the source of the noise, this time in outrage.  
  
"Oh, yeah?" Ryoko taunted. "And are you going to stop us?" She paced her hands on her hips and smiled. Ayeka remained silent. Kel said nothing, just raised his gun and pointed it at a mid-point between Ayeka and Ryoko. Ryoko snorted a laugh and looked down at the floor. Ayeka put her hand up to her face to obscure her smile.  
  
"Listen," Ryoko said still laughing, "I hate to break this to you, but both Ayeka and myself could easily stop a bullet from one of those things."  
  
Kel's expression didn't change, he merely shrugged. Neither Ryoko nor Ayeka were ready for what he did next. With the same poker-faced expression, he swung his arm round so that his gun was pointed levelly at Tenchi's head. Kel had to fight to keep a straight face. The girl's faces seemed to collapse on themselves, going from amusement, to anger to immense fear. Both girls eyes widened and their mouths hung open in shock, and the colour in their cheeks drained away. Ayeka's bottom lip quivered slightly. Tenchi didn't seem at all surprised at Kel's action, and he made no effort to stop him. He just looked saddened, and he stared sullenly at the ground. Kel turned his head to the shocked women. He adopted a grin that should only be used by idiots and the insane.  
  
"Stop fighting, right," he giggled, his eyes flitting to Tenchi, "or I blow lover boy's head off!"  
  
"Y-you wouldn't dar-" Ryoko started angrily, but she stopped, because on the 'd' of 'dare' Kel moved the barrel of his gun slightly down and to the left, and fired a shot into the ground beside Tenchi. Tenchi flinched, but still made no effort to stop Kel or run away. This was too much for Ayeka, and she ran, tears welling up in her eyes, towards the house. Ryoko took a step back, horrified.  
  
"I think you should leave as well." Kel said softly. Ryoko's eyes burned with rage, she shot Kel the filthiest of filthy looks, and finally teleported from the scene. Kel lowered his gun and looked at Tenchi. Tenchi looked at Kel. Suddenly the pair broke down into fits of laughter.  
  
"T-that was hilarious!" Tenchi spluttered through laughs.  
  
"Did you see their faces when..." Kel managed, before his voice was drowned in a fresh burst of giggles. They were still laughing when Sasami found them.   
  
"Hey, where have you two been?" She called. "Come on, the party's starting and Washu rigged up a karaoke machine!"  
  
"Sorry Sasami, Kel and I had to sort out a er, little problem. We'll be along in a minute." Tenchi answered. He shot a glance at Kel, and Kel almost burst out laughing again. Tenchi followed Sasami away from the woodland war-zone, but Kel stayed put for a moment. He looked at the leaf-covered floor and took notice of the slightly smouldering trenches in the ground. He shook his head. There was no doubt in his mind that both Ayeka and Ryoko could kill him eight different ways with each of their fingers. They were definitely more powerful than they looked. Kel paused. There were a lot of strange things about these people, yet he seemed to just readily accept what was thrown at him. Why the hell was that? He'd heard of people believing things because they were in shock but this was ridiculous. It just seemed so unreal. He shrugged, and followed Tenchi.  
  
Kel suspected that he would now be given a wide birth by the Tenchi fan club, but it would be worth it if it stopped them fighting. Besides, Ryoko scared the crap out of him anyway. He thought about this as he walked back to the house. He thought that the scariest thing about Ryoko was her smile. Even when it was meant nicely her smile gave you the impression that she was going to kill you. Messily. It was the kind of smile that a leopard would give an antelope, if a leopard could smile that is.  
  
If she just smiled like, say picking a name at random, Mihoshi, Kel thought, it would give a thoroughly more pleasing result. Mihoshi had virtually the same kind of mouth and teeth as Ryoko, but when she smiled her face lit up like a fireworks display. Kel hadn't realised it, but a large grin had spread across his face.  
  
When they saw the house Kel could see Mihoshi and Kiyone standing outside. He waved over, and Mihoshi performed a little jump of excitement and waved back. Kiyone shot a worried glance at her partner. He jogged up the two GPs, passing Tenchi and Sasami, who eyed him curiously. Shrugging, they continued to walk towards the party spot. Mihoshi was wearing grey trousers of some description, a green pullover, and her usual white trainers.  
  
"Hey Mihoshi, Kiyone." Kel greeted them brightly.  
  
"Hi!" Mihoshi said, performing her firework smile. There was a moment's silence. Kiyone's eyes darted back and forth between the two, and she formed a small smile of her own. 'Oh, so she knows,' Kel thought, blushing ever so slightly. Mihoshi broke the silence.  
  
"Come on, the party's about to start!" Mihoshi announced in her usual disposition. Kel was about to open his mouth to answer when Kiyone spoke.  
  
"You go on, we'll be along in a minute." She said. Kel frowned. There was an odd tone in her voice. Mihoshi nodded cheerily. Kel followed Mihoshi away with his eyes, and when he was sure she was out of earshot, flicked them over to Kiyone. He placed his hands in his pockets, and raised an eyebrow. What did Kiyone want? He hoped he wasn't in trouble over something, she was a GP after all. He prayed she wasn't going to ask him for his gun license or something like that...  
  
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Kiyone cried hugging Kel rugby-tackle style. Kel wore the expression of someone who was very, very surprised. He was even more surprised to discover that his feet had actually left the ground.  
  
"Last night was the first peaceful night I've had in ages!" Kiyone cried, the tears literally welling up in her eyes.  
  
"Okaaaaaay, that's okay. Could you put me down now, please?" Kel said in the voice he reserved for small children.  
  
"Oh, sorry." Kiyone said, abruptly letting go of Kel. Kel felt his legs buckle at the knees as he landed. He staggered slightly, but managed to stay balanced.  
  
"I've always hoped that Mihoshi would..." Her voice trailed off, and she cried unashamedly into Kel's shoulder. Kel now wore the expression of someone who was very, very worried. Unsure of what to do, he gingerly patted her on the back.  
  
"It's okay, everything's okay." He said. "Come on, or we'll miss the party thing." He added, searching franticly for an excuse to get away. Kiyone answered with a loud wail. Presently Kel managed to free himself from the emotional police officer, and they walked together to the agreed 'party spot'.  
  
"Mihoshi's my best friend, you know, even though I'd never tell her that." Kiyone said casually. Kel smiled. "It's just that her happy-go-lucky clumsiness sometimes, well... not to mince words, it annoys the shit outta' me." Kiyone clenched her fists. Kel suppressed a laugh.  
  
"Yeah, I know what you mean. She seems so innocent." Kel said. Kiyone smiled and walked on ahead. Kel stayed put.  
  
"Time somebody corrupted her." He said with a sly grin, to no one in particular. He walked after Kiyone, following her over the crest of a small hill. Then he saw the party spot. Even to someone who'd switched dimensions, was now living in a house with five planets under the stairs and who only had a few warriors, several alien women and a small furry creature for company, it was quite a sight. There was a square section of floor hovering at least fifty feet off the ground. Even at this distance he could clearly see Sasami and the others putting the final touches to it's completion. Pink drapes and flowery things hung over the side of the platform, and Kel could just make out a funny box shaped machine thing. Kiyone didn't slow her pace in the slightest; in fact she hardly looked up at it. Kel felt his body go through the usual emotions, disbelief, amazement, shock... Then he stopped. He couldn't be bothered being amazed, it was too much effort. He decided to just go with the flow. He rammed his hands into his pockets and carried on after Kiyone. When they both reached the edge of the floor's shadow, they stopped and looked up at the platform. Sasami must have seen them approaching, because she poked her head over the side of the floor, a massive grin on her face.  
  
"Hey, guys!" she cried happily. "Are you coming up?"  
  
"How do we get up, Sasami?" Kel called up.  
  
"Allow me." Said an emotionless mechanical voice beside Kel. It was not a voice he recognised. He glanced sideways, and realised that it had come from a large log that was hovering beside him. It had a strange blue design on it's front, and there was a large jewel set into it near the top, which was presumably it's eye. It also had four cylindrical small logs protruding from its base. Kel didn't spend much time studying it, he instead decided to scream, jump backwards, lose his balance and fall over. The log turned around and tilted forward slightly, looking down at Kel. From the dust, Kel could see that the log had been joined by a second log, that looked exactly the same except it had a red design, and the both of them plus Kiyone were looking down at him curiously.  
  
"Kiyone," Kel started slowly, still flat out on his back, "that log thing just spoke to me."   
  
Kiyone didn't remove her gaze from Kel, she just nodded slowly.  
  
"Doesn't that strike you as being a bit odd?" he asked, exasperatedly. Kiyone straightened up, exchanged glances with the two logs, and bent back down to Kel.  
  
"No." she said in a confused voice. Kel sighed.  
  
"Okay, let me put it this way. Are these logs good? Are they of a friendly disposition?"  
  
Again, Kiyone straightened up, looked at the logs and bent back down again.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Are they going to try kill me?"  
  
"No."   
  
Kel nodded up at her from the floor. That was all he needed to know. He picked himself up, and dusted himself off.  
  
"I am Azaka." The blue log announced in a monotone.  
  
"I am Kamidake." The red log announced in a monotone.  
  
"Oh my god." Groaned Kel in a monotone. Things were really starting to piss him off now. All these shocks and surprises! At this rate he'd never be surprised by anything ever again. What about his birthdays? What if he had a surprise party? He'd have to pretend to be surprised and he wouldn't enjoy it.  
  
"We are the princesses guardians." Azaka said, still in the same voice.  
  
"Of course you are!" Kel said than was too high pitched and enthusiastic to be sane.  
  
"Allow us to help you." Kamidake said. Kel looked over to Kiyone, who had climbed on top of the massive chunk of wood that was Kamidake, and was now sitting on top of him. Kel watched the guardian and its passenger float up to the platform and disappear from sight as they moved over it. Without changing his vaguely annoyed expression he sighed, shrugged, and jumped up to the blue log. His fingertips clasped the edge of the flat top, and Azaka leaned ominously towards him but stayed upright. Feeling slightly sheepish, Kel hung there for a moment before heaving himself up with a grunt. He dragged himself all the way on top of the log, and sat with his legs dangling down on either side of Azaka's eye. What happened next surprised him. Azaka rose into the air, and carried him up to the platform. He'd been expecting that of course, but what he hadn't been expecting was the speed at which Azaka rose. Kel's head was forced down into his neck by the G-force, and when they reached the appropriate height Azaka stopped so abruptly that Kel felt himself part contact with the log's top. Bouncing back down, he gripped Azaka's top with all the strength he could muster. Azaka lowered himself to the platform for the perfect landing. Kel slid off the guardian, fell over again and, with as much dignity as he could, picked himself up.  
  
"Right, thanks." Kel said shakily. Once he'd found his feet he looked around. On the platform there was a large white tablecloth laid down piled high with food that Sasami had prepared. Now that he saw the machine thing close up he could see that it was actually the karaoke machine, but it looked weird. Turning, he could see Mihoshi, Kiyone Washu, Tenchi and Sasami sitting down. He walked over to join them, and sat in a close proximity to Mihoshi, without being too obvious about it. Sasami smiled and handed him a plate of food. Presently they were joined by Nobuyuki and, strangely enough, Yosho. Ryoko and Ayeka were the last to arrive. They elected to sit as far away from Kel as possible, without being too obvious about it. Kel started to eat whatever it was that was on his plate. It was all Japanese food, sushi, rice, fried vegetables, that sort of thing. It proved to be delicious, another culinary masterpiece on Sasami's part. Through the course of the meal, Ayeka and Ryoko regained their normal disposition, since they could see that Tenchi was unharmed. In fact he seemed totally at ease. Neither of the girls could figure out why this was, but neither dared to rock the boat. Just as Kel was doggedly trying to scoop up the remainder of his meal with his chopsticks, Ayeka leaned over and offered him some food from a hamper that she had kept close to her. Kel thanked her and peered inside the basket. A tasty smell drifted up to his nostrils that smelled decidedly spicy. It all looked so good, but he finally decided to sample what looked like a chicken breast, coated in a bright red powder of some variety. He tried for a few moments for the sake of etiquette to pick it up with his chopsticks, but then gave up and simply stabbed at the piece of meat with one of them, neatly skewering it on the end. Ayeka closed her eyes for moment. Kel might have avoided what happened next had he noticed the wide-eyed expression on everyone's face, except for Ayeka. Or that everyone bar Ayeka was slowly shuffling away from him. As it turned out, he didn't. As soon as the innocent looking piece of meat touched his tongue, he knew something was wrong. It wasn't until he'd closed his mouth that he realised what it was. This baby was hot. Not hot as in vindaloo hot, really hot. The closest thing to compare it to is eating napalm. Kel's eyes widened and began to water, his throat and mouth felt like they were on fire, and it seemed as though whatever he had in his mouth was getting hotter. Every instinct in Kel's body was screaming at him to expel it. Under the circumstances he did the only sane thing.  
  
"WHAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!" he explained. He leapt to his feet in a way that only a person with a mouthful of chilli could manage, bounded over the sitting Ayeka, hurdle style, and dived for the edge of the platform, landing with his head and shoulders just over the ledge. That done, he promptly spewed the deadly Ayeka-morsel out of his mouth. It landed with a sickening 'splut' on top of Kamidake. The guardian did not seem to notice. Free from the agony of the heat, Kel hung his head over the side of the platform guiltily. Great. Just great. He should just have the words 'bad guest' tattooed on his forehead. The moist red mass that was now attracting wildlife on top of Azaka had probably once been a Japanese delicacy. He hoped his hosts would forgive him, how he was ever going to look any of them in the eye ever again was beyond him.  
  
So it was quite a surprise for Kel when he heard the laughter. He straightened up cautiously, and looked over his shoulder to see all but Ayeka lost in mirth. Ayeka herself looked disappointed, but by no means surprised. It seemed to be Ryoko who was laughing the loudest. Kel staggered back to his place, rasped 'Sorry' and promptly knocked back a whole bottle of mineral water. Tenchi leaned over.  
  
"Sorry," he whispered, trying to keep from laughing. "I should have warned you about lady Ayeka's cooking."  
  
Kel nodded vigorously.   
  
Soon after everyone had eaten their fill (which didn't take long), Washu rose and walked the length of the platform to the karaoke machine. She flicked a chrome switch near the bottom, and the machine hummed into life.  
  
"Okay, everyone this is the 'zap-o-rama-VII', since the VI version was destroyed by persons who shall remain nameless," she said, shooing a scowl at Ayeka and Ryoko, who shuffled uncomfortably. "Anyway it's the same machine, except without the shock feature." Washu sounded disappointed when she said this. "So, if you think you're good, come and have a go! Any takers?"  
  
Almost instantly a hand shot into the air. Kel followed the petit fingers down to a slender arm, past an explosion of pale cyan hair to the arm's owner.  
  
"I'll go first!" said an enthusiastic Ryoko. Washu nodded curtly and stepped aside to allow Ryoko centre stage. Ryoko fought to contain her excitement as she strode over to the machine, pressed a few buttons, and said something that no one heard into the microphone. She then took a back, glanced at the machine up and down, and finally turned around and took her place at the 'centre stage'. Her eyes flitted left, and immediately soft smoochy music began to pump out of the large speakers built into the side of the karaoke machine. Ryoko closed her eyes as the intro played, then opened them just in time to sing the first line in a seductive voice. Clearly this was a love song, but it was not one had heard before. 'It must be a Japanese song,' Kel thought. Indeed, Kel only caught a few of Ryoko's lyrics, but it was obvious even to someone who had just nearly suffered death by chicken that this song was directed at Tenchi. And seemed to be about sex. From what Kel could tell, Ryoko was singing about what she'd like to do if she ever managed to get her hands on a certain Juraian prince. Tenchi laughed nervously. Kel could see Nobuyuki nudge Tenchi in the ribs and whisper something in his ear. Tenchi's eyes widened and he turned to shout at his father, but his voice drowned in the music. Finally, Ryoko stopped singing and the song ended. Ryoko blew some air from her cheeks and wiped her brow. She turned to the machine, which began to hum. The number seventy flashed up on the screen. Ryoko grinned, and everyone began to clap. Still grinning, Ryoko bowed and walked back to her place. As she did so she blew Tenchi a kiss. Tenchi didn't react. He couldn't be bothered. Washu once again once again stood and addressed the small audience like a talent show host.  
  
"Thank you Miss Ryoko!" she shouted. "Who's next?"  
  
Not to be outdone, Ayeka raised her hand.   
  
"The star shall go now." She exclaimed confidently. Kel snorted a laugh, which thankfully went unheard. He began to pour himself a cup of sake that Yosho had handed to him. By the time he had finished and looked up, Ayeka had already started singing. As with Ryoko's song it was about love, and like Ryoko's song it was directed at Tenchi. Unlike Ryoko's song it seemed to focus on the romantic side of things. Kel turned his head slightly and slung a glance at Ryoko. She looked pissed off. She opened her mouth, presumably to boo Ayeka, but Kel managed to catch her eye. Shaking his head with steely expression, Kel held his shirt open slightly, so that Ryoko had full view of Kel's holstered shining colt.45. Her eyes flashed dangerously, but she shut her mouth and sulkily sat through the rest of Ayeka's song. Ayeka's song finished and the applause rang out. Once again, Tenchi shifted uncomfortably, as a large seventy-five lit up on the karaoke machine.   
  
"Who's next?" Washu called out. Kel glanced over his shoulder. There were no raised hands. Oh well, he thought and went back to the slow job of getting smashed on Japanese alcoholic beverages. He had just raised his small cup to his lips when Sasami spoke.  
  
"Hey, I think the new-comer should sing one!"  
  
Kel sprayed the area in front of him with sake and saliva.  
  
"Mmm?! Me? No, I don't think I should. Apart from anything else I won't know any of the songs."  
  
"Not a problem," Washu piped up. "We can download a song of your choice from your mind."  
  
"Oh, look I..." Kel started but never finished.  
  
"Go on, please." Said a voice. Kel looked up. It was a smiling Mihoshi. Damn, he could feel himself weakening, he just couldn't say no to her.  
  
"Yeah, go on!" said another voice from his right. It was Sasami.  
  
"...All right then." Kel sighed, defeated. He pulled himself forward and picked himself up, amid the cheers from the people around him. He walked towards Washu and the evil looking karaoke machine, trying desperately not to walk too fast because he'd look nervous, and not to slow because he'd look scared. After what seemed like an hour but can't have been more than ten minutes, Kel reached his destination.  
  
"Okay, I'll just download your entire knowledge of music and we'll begin." Washu said brightly, attaching two fiendish looking wires on suction cups to Kel's temples. There was too much alcohol coursing through Kel's veins for him to be surprised.  
  
"Er, okay, sure. You've done this before, right?" Kel asked tentatively.   
  
"Er, yeah, whatever." Washu shrugged. Kel simply massaged the bridge of his nose with a thumb and finger. The wires in place, Washu flicked the switch. Kel felt nothing, and for a moment wondered if it had worked. Then the machine bleeped in approval.   
  
"That's it!" Washu exclaimed happily.  
  
"That didn't take long!"  
  
"Yeah, it says something doesn't it? Okay, just say the artist and title into the mike. Any song from your memory, and this machine will play it. Good luck."  
  
Kel frowned as Washu joined the audience. He was sure he'd just been insulted but he couldn't quite see how. Without breaking his frown he looked at the mike.  
  
'Any song from my memory...?'  
  
Suddenly a smile cracked across his face. His favourite song...  
  
"What's the frequency, Kenneth? by R.E.M." he spoke clearly into the mike, but not so the others could hear. He then walked into the centre of the platform as Ayeka and Ryoko did before him. There was a blissful few seconds of silence before the music when Kel's anticipation reached a crescendo. Then the guitar riff flowed out of the speaker and enveloped him in its embrace. He started to nod his head to the beat, something he couldn't help.  
  
"'What's the frequency, Kenneth?' is your Benzedrine, uh-huh,"  
  
By this time everyone else seemed to be getting into the song, nodding their heads in time with it. Ryoko was trying to persuade Tenchi to dance with her.  
  
"I was brain dead, locked out, numb, not up to speed,"  
  
At these words, Washu seemed to laugh out loud. Some of the more carefree members of the group were starting to dance. Nobuyuki had rescued Tenchi from the dance, by nobly dancing with Ryoko himself. Ryoko was disappointed, but tried not to show it.   
  
"I thought I'd pegged you a idiot's dream,"  
  
By now most of the group were lost in the song, each taking the lyrics to mean whatever they wanted them to mean.  
  
"Tunnel vision from the outsiders screen,"  
  
Now all of the group were shaking their funky stuff. Even Yosho, who up until this point had remained quiet, accepted the offer of a dance from Sasami.  
  
"I've never understood the frequency, uh-huh,"  
  
Kel was enjoying this a lot more than he thought he would. This was probably the first example of western music that these people had heard. He started to dance, and continued his song.  
  
"You wore our expectations like an armoured suit, uh-huh,"  
  
And so it went from there. The song reached an instrumental section, and Kel took the advantage to see what the others thought of his song. He grinned. Mihoshi and Kiyone were dancing in sequence and were looking like they'd done it before. Ryoko and Ayeka seemed to be fighting over Tenchi again, albeit less physically. Yosho was involved in an awkward speeded up waltz with Sasami, and Nobuyuki was looking around miserably. There didn't seem to be any women left for him. Then he spied Washu, and a large cheesy grin spread across his face like wildfire. As casually as he could, he sauntered over to her, bowed slightly and said something to her. Washu grinned herself, and the two began their own dance. Kel smiled and shook his head before tearing into the second verse. It was Kel's favourite song, even though he didn't really know why. To start with, it rocked hard, but the thing liked most about it was the lyrics. He had absolutely no idea what they meant. Which was mainly why he liked them. Whatever the band were trying to say when they wrote it didn't matter, because the individual could draw what they wanted from it. He was now reaching the end of the song.  
  
"You wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh,"  
  
As he sang this line he looked over to Mihoshi and managed to catch her eye. She blushed and shot a grin at him. Kel shot his own back. Kiyone saw this and smiled and rolled her eyes. It was time to wrap things up.   
  
"I've never understood, don't fuck with me, uh-huh."  
  
And with that, the song ended, leaving behind only a rapidly fading guitar sound, and an out of breath Kel. He dragged a sleeve across his brow, even as the applause rang out. He turned back to the machine just in time to see the number ninety-five appear on the screen. He clenched a fist close to his chest.  
  
"Ye-e-e-es!"   
  
Kel then coolly returned to his sitting space. As he sat down he could feel a hand patting him on the back.  
  
"That was really good!" Tenchi exclaimed, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.  
  
"Er, thanks." Kel said. He took a swig from another bottle of water. Washu had already stood.  
  
"Very good, but it's time we had a duet. Mihoshi, Kiyone, I think..." Washu started but never finished. There was a massive explosion from somewhere above them, and everyone turned just in time to see a massive ship half fall half cruise to an area of land not far from the house. The ship was a pale yellow- green in colour, and seemed to have various pieces of metal embedded in its hull.  
  
"That's a Jurai ship!" Kel heard Ayeka gasp from somewhere behind him. Everyone, including himself, looked astounded. Everyone, that is, except for Yosho. Kel made a mental note of this, and followed the ship's trajectory. From the looks of things, it was going to land somewhere around the field he and Tenchi had worked in the day before.  
  
As they sat there, they saw a flash of light, and heard muffled explosion. Ryoko wasted no time, lunging forward and taking off, shooting towards the crash sight at an eye-watering speed. Kel decided it was time to act. He got up as quickly as he could, ignoring the searing pain in his legs that this caused, and ran to the edge of the platform and tried to judge the quickest way down. Jumping would be a bone snapping certainty, but he couldn't just wait for Azaka and Kamidake to ferry everyone down, the occupants of the ship might be hurt or something. Then he saw the tree. Thinking quickly he drew one of his colts and set the dial to 'eight'. He levelled it at the tree, flicked off the safety catch, and fired. Like the day before in the forest, a barbed bullet shot out of the gun followed by the steel wire. It thudded into one of the larger upper branches. Without waiting for it to reel itself in, Kel jumped from the platform and swung towards the ground. He realised to his horror that the wire was starting to pull him up. He was within ten feet of the ground and gaining height. Desperately, he fired the gun again, which had the effect of neatly severing the wire. Kel hit the ground with a roll, and continued running. He remembered the path to the field from the day before, he just hoped that it was where the strange ship had crashed. He bounded up the dirt track leading to the field, and sure enough, when he arrived the ship was lying there. Kel slowed down, and holstered his still smoking gun. It didn't look to badly damaged, as though whoever was piloting it had intended to arrive like that. There was something else in the field as well. Kel couldn't quite make it out from his distance, or through the dust that the ship had kicked up when it landed. Whatever it was, it was tiny compared to the vastness of the ship. 'Oh my god...,' Kel thought as he realised what it was. Ryoko lay sprawled out on the ground not far from the ship. Kel sped over to her and skidded to a halt beside her. He lifter her head into his lap and looked at her. There was an angry red gash at the top of her forehead that was staining her pale hair a bright scarlet, but it didn't look deep. Gingerly, Kel reached down and pressed her neck, checking her pulse. It seemed normal. Kel continued to nurse Ryoko's head until he became aware that someone was watching him. Looking up in the direction of the ship, Kel saw a man. He was dressed in flowing white and black robes, had dark hair and lifeless grey eyes. He was well built, even more so than Tenchi, and what looked like the hilt of a sword hung from his white belt.  
  
"Did you do this?" Kel asked almost softly, not getting up.  
  
"Where is Tenchi Masaki?" The man asked simply.  
  
"Did you do this?" Kel asked more forcefully. The man simply stared at Kel hard. Sensing what was coming, Kel reached into his shirt and unbuttoned one of his gun holsters as discreetly as he could. Just then, Tenchi skidded into view just beside Kel. He looked down at Ryoko. Kel widened his eyes at Tenchi. Tenchi nodded ever so slightly. The strangers head flicked over to Tenchi as soon as entered the field.  
  
"Are you Tenchi Masaki?" He asked. Tenchi was astounded at these words, but didn't let it interfere with his anger.  
  
"Yes, who are you?" he snarled.   
  
The man didn't reply, he simply smiled and shook his head, looking at the ground. Tenchi remained silent, waiting for an answer. Suddenly, and with no warning, the man screamed and raised an arm, his hand pointed directly at Tenchi. Almost as soon as arm was level he fired an energy bolt from his palm, not unlike Ryoko's. This one, however was obviously a lot more powerful. It hit Tenchi square in the stomach, and he doubled up, grimacing as the pain registered. Kel could tell that he was fighting to stay conscious. Tenchi fell to his knees, looked at his attacker in a wide-eyed expression, and slumped forward to the ground, out cold. A thin trickle of blood oozed from his nose. The man smiled a thin smile, and raised his other arm. A glowing orb appeared around Tenchi's body, and he was lifted off the ground. Slowly, the Tenchi-filled sphere drifted towards the man. Acting as quickly as he could, Kel rested Ryoko's head on the floor carefully, and drew one of his guns, pointing it directly at the stranger's head.  
  
"Put him down!" Kel shouted, adopting a targeting stance. The man's eyes flashed dangerously and his smile disappeared. Without dropping the arm that he had pointed at the Tenchi-sphere, the stranger raised his hand in Kel's direction. His face became a scowl, and it looked like he was powering up for a second attack. Kel prepared himself to jump out of the way. Then he was interrupted. By a voice. It sounded as though the others had caught up with them.  
  
"Tenchi? Are you all right? What happened? Tenchi?" it said. It sounded like Ayeka. Her voice worked to Kel's advantage though, because it seemed to distract the man. Gradually, Ayeka, Nobuyuki, Washu, Sasami, Kiyone and Mihoshi filed into the clearing. Yosho was the last one to arrive. Again, he looked completely unsurprised by what was happening. In turn, each of them saw the defeated Ryoko on the ground, saw the unconscious Tenchi in his spherical prison, and finally saw Kel with his weapon trained on the strange man. Kel took one hand off the barrel of his gun, and waved it behind him, motioning for the others to keep their distance.  
  
"Put...him...down!" Kel repeated. The warrior turned his attention back on to Kel, and in the instant that he wasn't looking at the others Mihoshi and Kiyone drew their blasters, Kiyone, of course, having the faster draw. The man's eyes darted back and forth between Kel and the GPs.  
  
"I'm taking this boy," the man spoke. "If you let me go without any trouble I'll leave you alone."  
  
Kiyone shook her head.  
  
"Ain't' gonna happen."  
  
The man smiled, then shrugged.  
  
"Have it your way." He said. Without another word he almost casually raised his arm to Kiyone, and fired an energy bolt. Kiyone was blown off her feet and was sent hurtling ten feet backwards. She landed on her front with a dull thud. Mihoshi cried out and ran to her fallen partner. Sasami screamed. Tears streaming down her face, she turned to the Juraian.  
  
"How could you?! She didn't do anything to you! You're a monster!" she sobbed. The man just snorted a laugh.  
  
"You know," he said, swinging his arm around to face Sasami, "You're right."  
  
Kel didn't think, there wasn't time. He just knew that he had to get Sasami out the way. Already he could see the light area around the Juraian's gloved hand that meant one of his deadly bolts was being conjured into life. He spun around and found that he was moving frustratingly slowly in the muddy field. There was no way he'd be able to protect them both. Well, there was only one decision he could make...  
  
He took two running steps towards Sasami, and then hurled himself at her, his fingertips just managing to push her aside. He landed on the hard ground, and had just enough time to see her stumble, then fall clear from the bolt's path, before it struck him. At the time, he couldn't tell exactly where it had hit him, his whole front side hurt. It felt like he'd just received a sledgehammer blow to the chest. He could taste something at the back of his throat. Blood. He smiled. Then everything went pleasantly black.  
  
* * *  
  
"Is he gonna be okay?"  
  
"Too early to tell. His chemical composition is slightly different to our own so I'm having difficulty treating him."  
  
"What did that blast do to him again?"  
  
"Let me see...He has second and third degree burns to most of his abdomen, four cracked ribs, a compound fracture to his right collar bone and a punctured lung. I'm trying to assess whether or not he has brain damage and it's not looking good. So far he hasn't reacted to any stimulus."  
  
"How's Ryoko doing?"   
  
"She's fine, she should wake up soon. His bolt wasn't as devastating to her, and besides, I can easily repair her."  
  
"How come you chose my to help you with all this?"  
  
"Hey, come on, It was either you or Nobuyuki. And quite frankly the idea of spending the afternoon with an ageing pervert is not one to be relished."  
  
Kiyone nodded her approval. She had long since stopped cursing herself for being so easily overcome. Right now she wanted to deal with the casualties, and then give chase. She herself was fine, except now she was sporting a long deep gash over her right eye that was being held together with no fewer than five butterfly stitches.  
  
"Washu," she said, "why d'ya suppose I'm not looking like that?"  
  
"Well," Washu started as she was cutting up some gauze, "I suppose it's because that guy simply wanted to disarm you."  
  
"Yeah, but if Sasami had been hit by Kel's bolt..."  
  
"I doubt she'd have survived. Her young body wouldn't have coped with the trauma. I think he wanted to let us know that he means business." Washu said, completing Kiyone's thought.  
  
"But murdering an unarmed innocent child..."   
  
"I know, I know."  
  
Kiyone said no more, just left Washu to her work, she'd probably be much faster with out talking. The lab was completely silent apart from the constant bleep of Kel's heart monitor, and the low steady hum of Ryoko's healing tank. Kiyone and the other members were still none the wiser as to the identity of the attacker, his reasons for taking Tenchi or indeed his destination. Washu reckoned that they could follow his ship's fuel emissions, provided that they left within twenty-four hours. If they were to be successful in finding the man, rescuing Tenchi and getting away, they needed Ryoko, and Kel would probably prove useful too. According to Ayeka the ship had been a Juraian one, but she couldn't explain all of its modifications. The ship hadn't been damaged when it landed, at least not when it came to flying. Shortly after the kidnapper had dropped Kel, he had fled to his ship, and locked the door behind him. Then the ship had taken off. Apparently. Kiyone had been twenty feet away at the time with a face full of earth, so she didn't notice. If only they knew who he was. She had checked the galaxy police computer on board her ship Yugami of course, but it had yielded no results...  
  
"I brought some tea." Sasami's soft call rang out in the quiet lab, shaking Kiyone from her thoughts. She smiled a sad smile. Sasami's red slightly swollen face entered the room. The remnants of tears were streaked down her face. Kiyone crouched down to Sasami.  
  
"Thanks kiddo." She said. She wished she could say something to cheer her up, but no inspiration came. She took the small tray from Sasami and placed it to one side.  
  
"What's everyone else doing?"  
  
"Ayeka's in the living room, father's helping me in the kitchen, Yosho's at the shrine and...and Mihoshi refuses to come out of the bedroom." Sasami sniffled. Kiyone nodded slightly.  
  
"Look don't worry," Kiyone said as reassuringly as she could, putting her hand on Sasami's shoulder, "Washu says that Ryoko is going to wake up any minute, and Kel..." she slung a worried glance over he shoulder, "Kel'll be fine."  
  
Sasami forced a smile, bowed, and returned to the kitchen. Luckily, Washu had pulled a screen around Kel's stretcher when the little girl had entered. Sasami didn't need to see Kel like that, the skin around his chest black and charred, cuts all over his body and with a long tube protruding from his mouth. Kiyone looked down at the sad little tea tray. She just wished that she believed what she had said to Sasami.  
  
Darkness. That was all that Kel could see, or more accurately, couldn't see. Kel tried to think for a moment. He failed. No, this couldn't happen, he had to remember something. Anything. Maybe he could escape the darkness with it. He had to try. Think. Think. If he thought, he couldn't be dead. It was a law or something. Something easy to start with. What was his name again? Cal? Calvin Klein? No, that wasn't it. He tried again. Kel? Kel...something? Yes, Yes, he was getting closer! L...La...Lak...Lake? Yes! He'd done it! His name was Kel Lake! He thought therefore he was! Wait...Kel paused his mental celebration. Wait...something else was coming to him. A girl. The most beautiful girl from his memory drifted through his mind. Long blonde hair... Deep blue eyes... A firework smile... Fantastic body... And of course, over developed incisors. Mihoshi! He'd dated girls before, but he'd never had feelings for any of them like he did for her. Mihoshi. A pinprick of light appeared in the vast chasm of black. Slowly, he began to pull himself into consciousness. Yes! His name was Kel Lake, he loved Mihoshi, and he was really pissed off...  
  
* * *  
  
"I'll let you know if anything happens."  
  
"Yeah." Kiyone said solemnly. Washu told her that she required no more assistance, so she decided she'd see if she could get Mihoshi to come downstairs. Washu watched her leave, then returned to her holo-top with a sigh. If only she could determine the minute differences between Kel's chemical make-up and their own. So engrossed with her work, she was, that she never noticed the blips on one of her computer screens indicating Kel's brain activity. It wasn't util she heard the bleeps of Kel's heart monitor quicken that she realised something was happening. She darted over to Kel's bedside, just in time to see him blink his eyes, and cough. Thinking quickly, Washu pulled out the tube that was aiding his breathing; now that has conscious he wouldn't need it. Kel coughed up some mucus, and Washu dabbed it away with a tissue pad.  
  
"Oh...Oh good, I'm still here." He croaked, gasping for breath.  
  
"Mmm?" Washu said with a smile.  
  
"I thought I might wake up in the burning wreckage of a research lab. Or not at all." He said in the same throaty voice.  
  
"You're pretty messed up you know." Washu said, her smile faltering slightly.  
  
"Oh yeah, that'll be why my chest feels like it's been hit by a wrecking ball." Kel joked. Washu's smile returned. Suddenly Kel thought of something.   
  
"Is Sasami okay?"  
  
"She's fine." Washu answered.  
  
"Then I got her out of the way? She wasn't hit?" Kel asked quickly.  
  
"Yes you did and no she wasn't."   
  
"Oh, good." Kel said relaxing slightly. "Can I see her?"  
  
Washu looked up.  
  
"I was hoping you'd say that. Poor Sasami's seen crying since you...well..."  
  
"Got the holy living crap kicked out of me, hm, I can imagine," Kel said nodding, ignoring the pain that this caused.  
  
"I'll go and get her. Don't go anywhere," she grinned. Kel rolled his eyes. He stared at the ceiling, remembering how far away it was. Then he'd remembered that he'd forgotten to ask Washu if the man had got away and if they'd managed to get Tenchi back. In the back of his mind Kel already knew the answer to both of those questions. But what of Ryoko? And Kiyone? He'd ask Washu when she returned with Sasami.  
  
"So remember Sasami, you can't touch him okay? Even if you just patted him on the chest you could kill him."  
  
Sasami nodded profusely. Washu smiled and opened the door to the lab.   
  
"Kel!" he heard Sasami shout. Kel forced a smile. Sasami raced to Kel's bedside, only just managing to keep her promise to Washu.  
  
"Hey, Sasami," Kel rasped. Sasami looked at him with a mixture of sorrow and joy.  
  
"Why'd you do it?" Sasami choked out, her eyes filling with tears. Kel reached out with his non-shattered collar bone arm and took hold of Sasami's hand.  
  
"Hey, come on, we're friends aren't we? I didn't want to see you get hurt."   
  
Sasami nodded slightly, and the tears flowed freely down her face. She hugged Washu and cried unashamedly into her shoulder. Washu gave Kel a sentimental look, and Kel gave it right back.  
  
"Don't worry Sasami, I plan to get better." Kel said quietly.  
  
"Sasami, I don't suppose you could find Mihoshi for me could you?" Kel asked, his eyes flicking in Washu's direction. Washu got the message.  
  
"Yeah Sasami, and could I have another cup of that delicious tea you made earlier?" She said. Sasami forced herself to stop crying, and smiled at Washu through her tear soaked face, and ran from the lab.  
  
"Am I to assume," Kel said as he heard the door close, "that that guy got away, with Tenchi?"  
  
Washu looked at the floor, her hands on her hips.   
  
"Yeah. 'Fraid so." She sighed.  
  
"Is there any way we can give chase?"  
  
"Yeah, provided we leave within," She paused, and checked her watch, "twenty-one hours."  
  
"Is there any way you can make so that I can walk by then?" Kel said.  
  
"I'm working on it." Washu sighed. "At the very least I can mend your broken bones and give you some special pain-killers, but unless I can figure out your chemical make up then I wont be able to do anything about your burns or lung."  
  
"My lung?" Kel said in surprise. They hurt, but he didn't think it was because of anything more than the force at which he was hit.  
  
"One of your splintered ribs pierced your right lung."  
  
"Oh right." He said, as if Washu had told him there was no more toast for breakfast. Then he thought of something. "Are you going to need any of my blood, or..."  
  
"Oh, I've already taken blood, tissue, urine and sperm samples from you, and I'm still no closer to figuring out the differences between us." Washu said, matter of factly. Kel opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. He didn't really want to know. Instead he said:  
  
"How's Kiyone and Ryoko?"  
  
"Kiyone's fine and Ryoko will be fine soon." Washu answered. Kel was about to say 'good', but he never go round to it because just then the Lab door burst open, and Mihoshi bolted into the room, closely followed by Sasami.   
  
"Wait Mihoshi, you can't touch him!" Kel heard Sasami shout. Luckily, Washu stepped in front of Kel's stretcher and held her arms across, blocking Mihoshi's path. She skidded to a halt just in front of Washu, her trainers squealing on the polished floor. Sasami caught up with her.  
  
"You...You can't...touch him." Puffed an out of breath Sasami, bent down with her hands on her knees. Mihoshi looked just like Sasami had done, tears cutting up her usually happy face, and an un-fading redness around her eyes.   
  
"Hey Mihoshi," Kel said from the stretcher. He winced as an explosion seemed to go off in his chest. Mihoshi seemed to notice this.  
  
"You, you wanted to see me?" Mihoshi choked out.  
  
"Are you kidding?" Kel said. "You're the reason I came back."  
  
There was a slight pause in the conversation at this point as Sasami and Washu wrestled with Mihoshi to stop her grabbing Kel and squeezing the life out of him. After a few seconds Mihoshi gave in, and began to sob hysterically. Kel took her hand as he had done with Sasami and she calmed down slightly. Washu thought this would be a good time to leave the two alone.  
  
"How about that tea Sasami? Come on, I'll help you with it." She said. Kel waited before the two were out of the door before he spoke.  
  
"Mihoshi, you have a spaceship right?"  
  
"Yes," She answered, slightly confused.  
  
"Good," Kel said, "Because we're gonna need it to get Tenchi back. Washu says we can follow him but only if we leave in about twenty hours. She's gonna fix me up as much as possible before then, but in the meantime I need you to prepare to leave, yeah?"  
  
Mihoshi nodded.  
  
"Good. And don't worry, we'll get Tenchi back, and I'll be fine. We still have a date to go on remember?" Kel said, the pain entering his voice. Mihoshi didn't move for a second, then she bent down to Kel and planted a kiss on his forehead. Kel smiled up at her. Mihoshi saluted Kel, a single tear running down her cheek. The she span on her heels and was gone. Kel fell into a shallow sleep, interspersed with dreams.  
  
* * *  
  
There was a peculiar feeling in Tenchi's arms and legs. It was if he was being stretched in all four compass points. If fact, it felt like the feeling he got when he was strapped into one of Washu's machines... A long, low groan escaped Tenchi's lips. He hadn't opened his eyes yet. When he opened them he was met by a surprise more unpleasant than the one he was expecting. The sight that greeted him wasn't a maniacal Washu attempting to rob him of his precious bodily fluids; it was a darkened dusty room, and not much else. From what he could tell, he was chained into some kind of giant metal hoop, his arms and legs locked at the rim. He could feel a sheet of metal supporting his back, so he leaned on it gasping for breath. He looked like he'd been frozen whilst performing a star-jump. What had happened to him to get him into this situation? God, his head hurt. He shook it slightly in a vain attempt to clear his dizziness. Had Washu taken her baseball bat to him again? It was possible. If only he could remember...oh shit. In an instant he remembered his very brief conversation with the strange Juraian, and how he'd wait for an answer, seen a flash, and then...nothing. So where the hell was he now? Gripping the steel frame of the hoop, Tenchi could feel a deep rumble. That probably meant he was on a ship of some variety. It was probably his attackers. All in all, it was turning out to be a fairly crap day. Tenchi craned his head to try and see what else was in the room. About twenty feet in front of him he could see a large sliding door, which would have once made for a grand entrance, but was now caked with layer after layer of dust. Just on the edge of his vision he could see a computer of some description, much like the ones Washu subjected him to. Suddenly the door at the end of the room slid open and Tenchi's head spun in the direction of the movement. A figure appeared in the doorway and started walking towards him. There was a bright light behind the man, so Tenchi could only see his silhouette.   
  
"Good, you're awake, we can begin the tests." The figure said, almost conversationally.  
  
"Who are you?" Tenchi shouted angrily. He didn't see what happened next, he could only work it out afterwards. The man didn't seem to move, but Tenchi felt a stinging pain on his cheek and his head snapped to the left. Tenchi looked back at him, and could see that he was clenching his fist. A look of rage flowed across Tenchi's usually tranquil features.  
  
"Rule number one, speak only when you're asked a direct question." He said. Tenchi's eyes burned with hatred.  
  
"Oh, don't worry," the man added in a well-spoken voice. "I'm not going to kill you. In fact, the longer you survive, the better for me."   
  
Tenchi said nothing, just continued to eye the man in disgust. He could take physical pain, but he hated being at his kidnapper's mercy.  
  
"Well, I'll be back soon." The man said, switching on the machine. "Oh, and don't get your hopes up about being rescued. Your girlfriend and that fool with the gun couldn't do much to stop me, so I doubt very much that they'll be able to get you back."  
  
Tenchi gritted his teeth. The fury was getting too much to bear. The man turned and strode out of the door, his long billowing cape following him out. Tenchi hung there for a moment and tried to figure out if there was any conceivable way that he could release himself. Nothing came to mind. Just then the computer beside him emitted a loud bleep. Tenchi wasn't sure what was about to happen next, but he was fairly sure it wouldn't be completely beneficial to his well being.  
  
Kel woke with a start. He had a peculiar feeling in his chest, stomach and upper legs. It was as if they weren't his. The skin on them felt tight and stretched, like he'd outgrown his own body. The pain in his shoulder and chest were gone though, so he sat up, and allowed his legs to hang off the side of the hospital style bed. He made a fist with his right hand, then rotated his right shoulder. It felt as though Washu had kept her promise and mended his bones. Kel looked around the lab. It was deserted. Christ, they hadn't left without him had they? Kel looked around franticly, trying to locate his clothes. The second time his eyes passed the vast lab, he spotted them. They were perched, neatly folded on a stool not far from the bed, along with his trainers, guns and watch. He ran to the stool and feverishly checked his watch. It was eight o' clock. It didn't mean anything to him. He didn't know what time it had been when he was first knocked out. He stood and thought for a moment, then donned his watch, and started to dress. He was just putting his trainers on when Washu walked in.  
  
"Oh good you're up." She said casually.  
  
"How long was I out for?" Kel asked quickly. Washu checked her watch.  
  
"Nine hours straight."  
  
"So that means we have," Kel paused, working it out, "twelve hours left."  
  
"Right," Washu nodded. "It's eight now, so we need to leave at about dusk."  
  
"Okay," Kel said thinking. "I noticed you've healed me."  
  
Washu hung her head sadly.  
  
"Yes, I've healed your bones, and yes I've found a way to heal your skin..."  
  
"But..." Kel said, preparing himself for bad news.  
  
"But short of cracking open your chest there's nothing I can do about your lung. I've pumped you full of pain killers, which is the only reason you could get up this morning, and I've made this which should heal your skin within our twelve hour rescue window, but that's it. You're gonna need to inject my special painkillers (patent pending) every three hours. " Washu said this whilst handing Kel a small black box and a strange looking metal cylinder with two buttons on it, and a vial of yellow liquid at one end. Kel took them. There was a little flap on the black object, so that it could be clipped onto a belt.  
  
"What's in the box?" he asked curiously.  
  
"It's an alpha particle emitter." Washu said.  
  
"You mean it's radioactive?" Kel said in a slightly worried voice.  
  
"Yeah," Washu replied. "On your world radiation is poisonous and causes cancer, right?"  
  
"Yeah," Kel nodded.  
  
"Well it is here too. But for some reason, when your body is exposed to radiation, your cells regenerate. I'm not saying that you're immune to it; if you were introduced to strong a source your cells would multiply uncontrollably, effectively creating tumours, but if the damaged tissue is introduced to a weak radioactive source, it greatly speeds up recovery."  
  
"Riiiiiiight." Kel commented. He shrugged and clipped it onto his belt. "And this is the pain-killer, right?" He said, indicating to the cylinder thing. It was silver coloured, about the width of a penny and about ten centimetres long, not counting the glass reservoir of yellow liquid at the bottom. Washu nodded. Kel held the syringe upwards and gently pushed one of the buttons. A paper-thin needle shot from the end of the cylinder.   
  
"One button releases the needle," Washu said, "and the other injects the pain killer. You place it between the ribs, and press them, one after the other. Simple. There's about four shots in there. I'll give you more when you need it."  
  
Kel nodded, then winced as the needle shot into it's housing. He wasn't looking forward to using it. He slipped his colts into his holsters and flung his shirt over his shoulders.  
  
"Bring it on."  
  
Ayeka sat tensely on the couch, not knowing what to do. There wasn't much she could do, as their rescue mission was pretty much ready to go. All that remained to be done was to prime Yagami and Yukinojo's engines; since they hadn't been taken on any long trips lately Kiyone had recommended it. The job would normally take an hour on both ships, but with Mihoshi helping out they could add twenty minutes. So there was nothing for Ayeka to do except to sit and try to relax. After five minutes of stomach churning relaxation, she decided that she couldn't take any more. She was terrified, mainly Tenchi, but also for themselves. 'I mean, that guy had taken down their best fighter without even working up a sweat,' she thought. 'No,' she reassured herself, 'that was just because Tenchi was taken off guard.' She sighed deeply, and glanced over to the cyan haired woman beside her. Ryoko sat, arms folded, legs apart, slouched in the couch. Her eyes stared furiously into space, and Ayeka was slightly apprehensive of breaking the silence.  
  
"Um, Ryoko?" she asked carefully.  
  
"Mmm?" grunted Ryoko without moving, or even looking up.  
  
"Do you have any idea who that Juraian was?"  
  
"Whadda you think?" Ryoko said, facing Ayeka with a scowl. "I've never seen him before in my life." She added, returning to staring into space.  
  
"I just thought, you know...?" Ayeka said quietly.   
  
"Why don't you ask Yosho who he is?" a voice called out from behind the sofa.   
  
"Wh-what?" Ayeka exclaimed, half out of surprise and half out of disbelief. Ryoko simply looked over her shoulder at the voice's owner. "Hey, Ryoko." Kel half spoke half groaned.  
  
"Hey." She answered in a monotone.  
  
"What was that you said about Yosho?!" Ayeka shouted, more than a little disturbed by Kel and Ryoko's indifferent manner. Kel doggedly swung his whole body in Ayeka's direction. His skin had stopped hurting but a numbness now prevailed.   
  
"I think he knows who that guy was." Kel stated in the same croaky voice. Ayeka said nothing, just stared at Kel agape.  
  
"What makes you think he knows?" Ryoko said almost conversationally.   
  
"The fact that a massive craft crashed in front of him and he hardly batted an eyelid." Kel stated.  
  
"Yeah, but to be honest that's not really a rare occurrence around here," Ryoko said. Kel just stared, giving Ryoko a 'yeah right' look.  
  
"Couldn't hurt to ask though, I suppose." Ryoko stated, returning to her staring.  
  
"That's ridiculous!" Ayeka piped up. "And even if he did know we can't just ask him! Haven't you two heard of subtlety?"  
  
Kel and Ryoko just stared at her. 'Ask a stupid question...' thought Ayeka. Just then the main door to the living room slid open and Yosho walked in and sat at the table. Three pairs of eyes followed him in and made no effort to disguise the staring. Well, at least not from Kel and Ryoko. Obviously aware that something was going on, Yosho shot them all curious looks as he poured his tea.  
  
"What?" he said, slightly bemused, his eyes flitting from Kel to Ayeka to Ryoko. There was a moment's silence.  
  
"Did you know that guy, old man?" Ryoko inquired. Yosho paused for a moment, then sighed. He removed his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose.  
  
"Is it really that obvious?" he said. Ayeka's jaw dropped in an amusing cartoonesque way. Kel smiled a humourless smile, and Ryoko returned to her staring. Yosho continued.  
  
"His name is Nikito, and he is that very rare thing, a dishonourable Juraian. He was exiled form Juraian territory before I chased Ryoko to Earth.  
  
"What'd he do?" said Ryoko, who appeared to be only half listening. Yosho looked at her.  
  
"He had many unconventional ideas that would have brought dishonour to Jurai, but the crime for which he was exiled was mass genocide.  
  
"Yeah?" Ryoko said, suddenly interested.  
  
"He had a theory that the Jurai power wasn't necessarily exclusive to the Juraian royal family. He tried to get permission from the royal family to conduct 'experiments' on certain Juraian's capable of wielding the power. He hoped to sell the results to third parties and make money. It's his one passion. Naturally permission was refused."  
  
Kel lifted his head.  
  
"But who would he sell his results to?" he asked.  
  
"There are a lot of people willing to pay a handsome sum of money for the secret of the Jurai power. I would think that the GP would be interested, not to mention countless criminals and pirates." Yosho stated calmly. On his last word Ryoko looked up.  
  
"But what about the genocide?" she said.  
  
"When permission was denied he began his experiments anyway, systematically kidnapping the most powerful Juraian warriors and experimenting on them. None survived the procedure. It was a while before anyone realised what was happening, and even when we did it was difficult to catch him because of his wild unpredictability and heightened Juraian power, fuelled by his experiments."  
  
"B-but," Ayeka stuttered, speaking for the first time, "Wouldn't he have come after you, brother Yosho?"  
  
Yosho's eyes fitted to the ground and a faint smile spread across his lips. "Who do you think caught him, Ayeka?"  
  
"Oh..." Ayeka said quietly.  
  
"Why didn't you tell us from the start who he was?" Kel said, making the obvious observation that Yosho hoped no one would make. Again the ageing warrior sighed.  
  
"As you know, I don't agree with capital punishment, so after I'd captured Nikito I recommended to the Juraian high council that he be exiled rather than be executed. I believed that he would change, as Ryoko did. I was wrong. He continued his experiments, and no one could catch him due to his cowardly tactics and nomadic travels from place to place. After the Kagato incident (I'll fill you later) I knew that he would eventually come for Tenchi. I had hoped to deal with him myself."  
  
Kel paused for a moment. Yosho had never told anyone because he hadn't killed this Nikito when he'd had the chance. He felt like it was his fault.  
  
"But you couldn't because of his cowardice." Kel reasoned. Yosho nodded sadly in his direction.  
  
Tenchi's tired body relaxed and hung limply in its steel trap as the last of the electrical charge flowed though it. Tenchi was beginning to lose his mind, he was sure of it. The electricity had been flowing through him on and off for some time now. How much time he couldn't say for certain; the pain made it impossible to think. There had been no more appearance put in by the mysterious Juraian, so Tenchi could only assume that he would be there for some time. He vaguely wondered if the others would come for him, that is if they were still alive. He didn't know it, but a single tear rolled down his cheek. He couldn't bear the thought that his friends, his family and the woman he loved were...were...  
  
The familiar bleep of the computer and the searing burning pain ravaging through Tenchi's body was almost a relief.  
  
"Okay, Yagami and Yukinojo's engines are primed and ready to go," Kiyone said, poking her head through the door to the siting room. "Gather 'round everyone!" She added, her position of authority taking over. "Washu's instructed both ships to follow that ship's trail, Ryo-oh-ki, I'm afraid you'll have to follow behind." She said, nodding at the innocent looking cabbit on the table. Ryo-oh-ki nodded slightly. "Now, Washu thinks that she can knock the ships engines out," She paused, indicating to the minuscule scientist beside her, "but she can only do that from one of the ships, and it has to be fairly close to the enemy." Kiyone turned to the girl with the physical age of twelve, the chronological age of around two thousand and the IQ of god only knows.  
  
"Washu, I think that that should be done from Yagami, it's the sturdiest of the ships."  
  
Washu simply nodded.  
  
"Fine, then that's it. Ayeka and Ryoko in Ryo-oh-ki," Kiyone said. Ayeka opened her mouth to say something but Kiyone instantly silenced her with a sideways glance. "Myself and Washu in Yagami, and Yosho, Mihoshi and Kel in Yukinojo." She paused. "Any questions?"  
  
Nobody said anything. Kiyone nodded.   
  
"One final thing. Sasami, I'm afraid you'll have to stay here." She said.  
  
Sasami just nodded. She'd been expecting it anyway.   
  
"I'll baby-sit!" Nobuyuki called out. Kiyone almost smiled.  
  
"I thought you might." She said. "Okay, lets go."   
  
Kel had no idea what the ship he was supposed to be in looked like, or even where it was so he decided to just follow Mihoshi. He sighed, and wriggled around in his shirt. His skin felt dry and tight, like he'd been sunburnt. It didn't hurt as much as it did before though, so the alpha emitter was obviously doing its job. He headed toward the door, but never made it. There was a strange feeling in his chest, and it took him a split-second to realise what it was. Pain. His lungs, or more specifically, his lung, literally felt like it was on fire. The pain was unbelievable, almost driving him from consciousness. He clutched his chest and fell to his knees, unable to scream because he couldn't breath. He began to fall forward, and only just managed to put a single hand out to break his fall. Mihoshi heard a dull thump behind her and tuned to see Kel on all fours with one hand clawing at his chest rocking in pain. Gasping, she ran to his side and supported him.   
  
"What's the matter?! What can I do?!" She franticly half screamed.  
  
"I'm...O...kay." Kel managed to hiss. He reached behind himself and located the painkiller in his back pocket. Still on the floor, he held the odd syringe in front of himself, and watched as the needle shot out. He paused for a moment, made his decision, and squeezed his eyes shut. With a stabbing motion he slammed the needle through his T-shirt between his ribs, at about the site of the pain. When he did this, two things surprised him. Firstly, he was surprised at how little pain the needle caused him, and secondly, he was surprised at how quickly the original pain dissipated. Wincing slightly as he extracted the needle, he looked up into Mihoshi's face. Her deep blue eyes were swimming with worry.   
  
"S'okay," he grunted, lifting himself up. "I'm fine."  
  
As Mihoshi helped him to his feet, Washu appeared in the doorway.  
  
"Is everything okay?" She asked with concern.  
  
"Yeah, I was just a little late with my painkillers." Kel answered. Washu nodded gravely then continued on her way to Yagami. Mihoshi hooked Kel's arm over her neck and hoisted him to his feet. Kel staggered slightly then regained his balance.   
  
"Thanks." He said, rather unimaginatively. Mihoshi nodded, and strode out of the door, with Kel closely behind her. Just before he reached the door, something caught his eye on the table. He turned slightly as he realised what it was. Smiling slightly he strode over to the table and pocketed the object. 'Who knows?' he thought. 'It might come in handy.' The sight that greeted Kel as he stepped outside was not far from the one he'd expected. There were two colossal ships outside the Masaki household, well, one was, the other was hovering silently overhead. Kel smiled. It looked as though he'd mastered the art of expecting the unexpected. The ship that Mihoshi was heading towards seemed to be floating in the lake. It was long and streamlined, with wings and engines protruding at regular intervals along its side. It was grey coloured, with certain areas such as the rim of the engines coloured chrome. It also appeared to be perfectly symmetrical. Shifting his gaze, Kel looked up at the monster of a spacecraft that mocked Newton as it hung in the sky. Even from this distance Kel could tell that it was much bigger than the one in the lake. It was bright red, and was also streamlined, except this one had several wing-like extensions mounted on the back, like spoilers on cars. When he looked back to Mihoshi, he saw that Yosho had joined her, and the two were looking out towards the ship. Thinking that he' better hurry up, Kel jogged over to them. He saw that Yosho had put his hand on Mihoshi's shoulder, and he was nodding for Kel to do the same. Curiously Kel gently placed his palm on Mihoshi. His confusion must have shown, as Mihoshi glanced at him and said:  
  
"I'm going to take us on board."  
  
With that Mihoshi reached up into her luscious golden hair and extracted what appeared to be a crystal Rubic's cube. Kel rolled his eyes. He'd have to ask Washu if there was anything else that wasn't normal that he ought to know about. It was a miracle he hadn't died from a heart attack so far.  
  
"Beam me up, Scotty." Kel muttered as Mihoshi fiddled with the cube. Then he felt what it was like to have every molecule in your body cease to be in one position and simultaneously reappear somewhere else. It was a strange sensation, and not a very pleasant one. It was almost as if he was swimming through ice-cold water. Then he noticed why that was. He was, in fact, swimming through ice-cold water. Mihoshi had transported them directly into the lake. Instinctively Kel broke for the surface, gasping for breath when his head finally reached sweet oxygen. Looking around, he saw Mihoshi and Yosho bobbing up and down in the water a little way behind him. A tearful Mihoshi was explaining to Yosho how sorry she was, whilst Yosho wore an expression of mild amusement. Doggedly, Kel started to swim towards the bank.  
  
Blearily Tenchi could see the door to his cell open. He saw the foggy Juraian stride in, then lost sight of him as the door closed and the source of light was cut off. In the time that he'd been alone the tests had continued, although he couldn't feel them anymore. It was like he was beyond pain. Now he just felt tired.  
  
"Now, lets see how you've been getting on." Said a smug smarmy voice. Tenchi tried to lift his head but gave up halfway through. He heard the rustle of paper and guessed that the man must be reading the computer's printout.   
  
"That's...That's very interesting." Said an intrigued voice. Tenchi heard the footsteps retreat to the door and then stopped suddenly. Tenchi could only assume that the Juraian had paused at the door.  
  
"Don't go anywhere." Said the same smug smarmy voice from before. Then the door opened and the light temporarily blinded Tenchi.  
  
"I'm sorry!" Cried the still weeping Mihoshi.  
  
"That's okay it was a mistake, we all make mistakes!" Kel said as gently as he could. He hated having to comfort crying people, especially crying women. He never knew what to say. Still, at least they were now on board the ship, if a little wetter than they had planned. Mihoshi had found them some towels, and he and Yosho had been left to dry themselves. Mihoshi had also taken their clothes to be dried, probably involving some kind of futuristic drier thing. Kel couldn't say he wasn't pleased to get his clothes back on. There was no way of telling how long this journey was going to last, as no one knew just how far the energy trail would last. There was nothing for it but to just sit tight and wait for a blip to appear on the radar. Kel looked around him. They were moving through a streamlined corridor with gunmetal grey walls. Every so often they would come to a set of sliding doors that Mihoshi would open, with Kel following wearily behind her. Yosho had asked to be shown to the largest room on the ship, so they had taken him to the engine room. He said he needed space to 'practice'. So there he was, alone, with Mihoshi. No, damn it, he had to keep his mind on the task at hand. Rescue Tenchi, rescue Tenchi, rescue Tenchi...... have sex with Mihoshi...WHAT?! Where the hell had that come from?! Kel's head snapped up and he shook his head slightly, trying to clear his thoughts. Mihoshi was a good person, not just an object for his sexual depravity. He liked more than just her body, he liked...he liked...well her ditziness, for want of a better word. If a man had acted like Mihoshi around Kel he wouldn't have thought twice about throwing the first punch. But, for some reason, when Mihoshi did it, it just made his heart melt.   
  
"Where here!" rang out the voice of his affections, swiftly shaking him thoughts. Kel followed Mihoshi into a room lined with computers, pretty much how Kel had expected the cockpit of an interstellar cruiser to look like. There was a large official looking chair near the far wall, which Kel supposed was the driving seat. Kel was now certain that nothing would ever surprise him ever again.  
  
"Hello, Mihoshi." Said a metallic voice.  
  
"Jesus!" Kel shouted in a surprised voice. As Kel completed his blasphemous expletive, a domed metal head retracted on a hydraulic arm from somewhere in the ceiling, and lowered itself to eye level. It had two large 'eyes' which resembled camera lenses, and were continuously re-focusing. These eyes were set in between the domed top of the head and the cylindrical lower half of the face.  
  
"Yukinojo!" Mihoshi cried, and ran over to the robot and embraced it in a hug. Kel simply looked on. Yukinojo expressed no emotion, but didn't seem to mind being buried in Mihoshi's plentiful bosom. After a few moments it spoke.  
  
"Miss Mihoshi, who is this? I don't recognise him from any of the GP files."  
  
Mihoshi let go of Yukinojo, slightly more violently than she meant, and the robot was pushed back slightly.  
  
"Oh, I'm so silly! Sorry Yukinojo, this is Kel Lake, and no, he wouldn't be on any of the GP files because he's not a GP officer or a wanted criminal. In fact he's not even from this dimension."  
  
Mihoshi's last words seemed to shock Kel more than they did Yukinojo. Hearing it from someone else, it was like he had only just realised it.   
  
"Kel, this is Yukinojo, my computer co-pilot and friend." Said a beaming Mihoshi, once again snapping Kel from his thoughts.  
  
"Of course he is." Kel answered in a vaguely sarcastic tone, which thankfully neither Mihoshi nor Yukinojo picked up on.  
  
"What are we doing Miss Mihoshi?" Yukinojo politely asked after the introductions had been made.  
  
"Washu gave me this." Mihoshi said, pulling a computer slug from her pocket. "Everything you need to know is on it." She said as she slipped it into a slot on a nearby computer.  
  
"Just reading." Yukinojo stated simply. There were few bleeps and other typical computer noises, and then Yukinojo spoke again.  
  
"Starting engines. Locking on to vapour trail."  
  
Mihoshi nodded, her smile disappeared, and she seated herself in the pilot seat. Kel remained standing, and he felt his legs buckle ever so slightly. He felt as though he were in an extremely fast lift. Thinking he'd better find himself a seat, as there was no guarantee that the whole journey would be this smooth, Kel scanned the room briefly. He spied only one other seat, to the right and slightly behind Mihoshi's. He strode over to it, swept the discarded cola bottles and burger boxes to one side and sat himself down, just in time to feel the G-force pin him back in his seat. After a few seconds it let up, and he was able to lean forward and look at Mihoshi. She had her cube out again, and was turning it over slowly in her hands. She had her eyes closed, and was mouthing something to herself, as if she was trying to remember a sequence or something. With no warning she gave the cube two quick twists. For a split second a shimmer appeared around her body, then her clothes had changed. She was no longer wearing her green pullover, grey trousers and white trainers; she was now wearing a uniform of some description. It was sort of a long dress, with a small jacket, covered in buttons. It was blue, mostly, and she wore and ultramarine hat that clashed violently with her blonde hair. She then twisted the cube again, and it transformed into a white puffball, which Mihoshi attached to her hip.   
  
Kel frowned at her exasperatedly. Mihoshi looked over to him and grinned.  
  
Kiyone sat in the cockpit of Yagami and tried to relax. There were slight ulterior motives for sending Mihoshi in her own ship, she didn't think she could handle her right now. The control room of Yagami wasn't that different from the one in Yukinojo, except that it was tidier. Kiyone let out a deep sigh. Now that they'd cleared the earth's atmosphere she felt her tension slip slightly. She always did feel conspicuous hovering over Okayama in a ship the size of a small village.  
  
"We're clear!" Kiyone called back to Washu. Washu didn't seem to hear.  
  
"Hey! Washu! I said we're clear."  
  
"What? Oh, right, okay." Washu said hastily, as if she had just snapped out of a daydream.  
  
"Are you okay?" frowned Kiyone, leaning out of her seat so she could face Washu.  
  
"Yeah, I...I'm fine." Washu blinked.  
  
"But...?" Kiyone pushed.  
  
"Well, it's just that when the others told us that that Juraian's name was Nikito, it got me thinking. I was sure I'd heard that name somewhere before. Then I remembered where I'd heard it from." Washu said, leaving a very pregnant pause.  
  
"Kiyone, he used to attend the same academy as me." She finished. Kiyone gasped.  
  
"Yeah, I know." Washu said quickly.  
  
"Did you know him?" Kiyone asked, still shocked.  
  
"No. He was there after my time." Washu said shaking her head. "But I remember hearing stories about him." She added darkly.  
  
"What kind of stories?" gasped Kiyone, who was starting to sound like Mihoshi.  
  
"Well, apparently he was kicked out of the academy after it was discovered what he was working on."  
  
"Which was?" said Kiyone, hanging on Washu's every word.  
  
"Sick little experiments. Involving people."  
  
Kiyone's eyes stared at the floor as Washu's words sunk in. Then she looked up suddenly.  
  
"But then," she said, fear entering her voice, "what's he going to do to Tenchi?"  
  
Washu looked grim. Kiyone reasoned that she must have had the same thoughts. Kiyone swallowed hard, then tried to gather her thoughts.  
  
"Do you think we should tell the others?" she said in a voice that was to calm to be normal.   
  
"No." Washu answered shaking her head. "It would only worry them, and that's the last thing we need right now."  
  
Kiyone nodded, digesting the information.   
  
"OK."  
  
Washu gazed into the cold void of space lost in thought. Kiyone looked at her for a second, then turned to the control panels, desperate for something to do to take her mind off what might be happening to Tenchi. She checked the artificial gravity inside the ship. She checked the hull integrity. She made sure the laser cannons were armed and ready. If there was anything to do with the ship Kiyone checked it and re-checked it, until finally her gaze settled on the radar screen. Still blank. This was good, and it was also bad. Just as she was wondering whether she'd rather a blip appeared on it or not, a blip appeared. Kiyone reflected that sometimes it was nice to have decisions made for you. Sometimes.  
  
"Okay, they're on the radar!" Ryoko called over her shoulder. Ayeka stiffened up and her stomach tied itself in knots. For most of the trip she had remained silent. 'Quite out of character for her.' Ryoko mused. Not that she was complaining. Let the princess fret silently, it made it easier for her to pilot Ryo-oh-ki. Even as Ryoko thought this she felt a stab of guilt from the back of her mind. Ayeka may have been her arch-rival, but it didn't mean she didn't have feelings. Was it possible that if either or both of them didn't love Tenchi they would get along? Was it worth even trying to find out?   
  
Ryoko sighed and stepped away from Ryo-oh-ki's crystal-like controls; it was true that Ryoko worked the controls, but if anything serious happened Ryo-oh-ki could handle it.  
  
"Feelin' okay? Scared?" Ryoko called over to Ayeka.  
  
Ayeka's head snapped up. She opened her mouth and was about to pass an angry sarcastic comment when she stopped herself. What the hell, she thought, it may be the only time Ryoko addresses her pleasantly ever again.  
  
"Terrified actually." She said, allowing herself a small smile. Ryoko sighed.  
  
"Yeah, me too."   
  
"Really?" Ayeka looked up, slightly surprised. This was the fist time she had heard the mighty Ryoko admit to being frightened.   
  
"Yeah. I'm determined to get Tenchi back, make no mistake about that, it's just that...well when someone beats so easily...it's not a pleasant feeling is it?" Ryoko continued. Ayeka simply remained silent.  
  
"It's amazing how often we forget that, especially when you're a space pirate." Ryoko said. "Every glorious victory we experience is someone else's crushing defeat."  
  
"Well you know the solution don't you?" Ayeka spoke softly. "We should unite. Experience each victory together."  
  
Ryoko turned back to Ayeka to see if she was joking. She wasn't. Ryoko snorted a laugh.  
  
"You know, at the height of my power as a space pirate, I used to defeat people just like that guy did to me. And I never, not once did I stop to think about how it felt for them or their families." Ryoko forced another small laugh.  
  
"I s'pose that that's why that no that I think about it I'm not out for revenge."  
  
"No?" Ayeka cocked her head sympathetically.   
  
"No." Ryoko sighed again, shaking her head. "I just want Tenchi back."  
  
"Miss Mihoshi, the perpetrator's ship has appeared on the radar." Yukinojo's voice rang out, breaking the silence. Mihoshi seemed to tense up at these words, but then she relaxed again.   
  
"How long before we can intercept?" Mihoshi said determinedly.   
  
"At present speed..." Yukinojo pause whilst analysing the data, "ten minutes. Possibly less."  
  
Mihoshi nodded gravely, and her features tightened slightly. Kel looked at her. She looked terrified.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked, trying his best to not sound patronising. Mihoshi looked up and forced a smile.   
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little nervous that's all."  
  
Kel nodded slowly.  
  
"I mean, I've never actually faced anyone as dangerous as Nikito before, and once we get Tenchi back I'm probably going to have to arrest him, and...and..." and Mihoshi could get no further, breaking down into sobs, and burying her face in her hands. Kel looked at Mihoshi, and then at the floor, then at Mihoshi again and then back to the floor. Then he looked up and nodded slightly. He had made his decision. He stood, and strode over to the weeping blond.  
  
"Look Mihoshi, all we have to do is get Tenchi back. After we've done that, we're gone. Nikito won't see us for dust."  
  
"Really?" Mihoshi said tearfully, looking up at him.  
  
"Yeah! I know you're a GP and everything, but this guy is more than we can handle. And I should know." Kel replied, patting his chest and wincing slightly.  
  
"B-but Lord Yosho is going to want vengeance, there's a matter of honour at stake..."  
  
"To hell with honour." Kel said, cutting Mihoshi off. "Honour's no good to you if you're dead. You can call me dishonourable, but at the end of the day it'll be me who's standing. Besides, this Nikito wasn't exactly sporting when he kidnapped Tenchi, was he?"  
  
Mihoshi lowered her head and stared at the floor.  
  
"Okay then," she said finally. "We get in, we get out, as simple as that."  
  
Mihoshi had stopped crying at this point but she still looked frightened.   
  
"Here." Kel said simply, as he unbuttoned one of his ebony holsters. He carefully slid out one of his prized guns, removed a fresh clip from his back pocket, and slammed it into the butt of the firearm. Making sure that the safety was on, he spun the gun around in his hand, so that he was holding it by the barrel. He then handed the gun to Mihoshi. She took it by the grip, but didn't slip her finger in the trigger.  
  
"I-I don't understand." She stammered. "Don't you need this?"  
  
Kel grinned at her and the right side of his shirt open, so Mihoshi had a full view of his other holstered weapon.   
  
"One's enough." He said letting go of his grip on the gun Mihoshi was holding.  
  
"But why? Won't you be at a disadvantage now?" Mihoshi said, staring hard at the primitive lump of metal that she now held.  
  
"I'd rather you had it." Kel replied, somewhat sheepishly. "Besides, in and out, remember?"  
  
Mihoshi didn't say anything. She simply stood, wrapped her arms around Kel's neck, and planted a single kiss on his lips. Kel didn't return the kiss, simply because he hadn't been expecting it. Mihoshi pulled back slightly, her arms still around Kel's neck, and she looked into his green eyes. His pupils were dilated, so she knew he had enjoyed her attentions. Vice-versa, Kel looked into Mihoshi's deep blue eyes, and noticed that all trace of her previous nervousness has gone. Both paused for a split second, before slowly leaning in towards each other. Kel's heartbeat quickened and his brain flushed his bloodstream with adrenaline. The entire time between their first kiss and the point where their lips pressed against one another's a second time was twelve seconds. If you had asked Kel or Mihoshi, they'd have said that it was twelve hours. Mihoshi tightened her grip around Kel's neck and Kel slipped his arms around Mihoshi's petit waist, and they embraced in a second, much more passionate kiss. This time, Kel was much more enthusiastic.  
  
Kiyone eyed the green radar screen suspiciously, as though she expected it to run away. She sighed heavily, and stretched her arms in an attempt to relieve the tightness in her stomach. She looked back to the neon dot on the screen. It didn't look any closer to the middle of the screen, but with every second that passed it moved a little closer to the red dot that was Yagami.   
  
"How close do we have to be to knock out that ship's engines again?" Kiyone called back to Washu.  
  
"Just lock the ship in on your missile guiding system." Washu answered, not looking up.  
  
"WHAT?!" Kiyone exclaimed. "That's how you plan to stop him? By blowing him up? Tenchi..."  
  
"Relax." Washu said still without looking up. "I'm guessing that that ship runs off electrical power, so I'm going to rig up a dud missile with EMP bomb."  
  
"Oh..." Kiyone sighed with relief. "How long do you need?"  
  
"Not sure." Washu said looking up for the first time. "Shouldn't be too long. I'll call you when I'm ready."  
  
Her nervousness forgotten, Kiyone reached over and flicked the switch that booted up the weapons system.  
  
"Mihoshi. Mihoshi, incoming message."  
  
"What? Oh, right."  
  
The virtual communications screen blinked into life and hovered a few feet in the air in front of Yukinojo. There was a moment of static filling the screen before Kiyone's head and shoulders came into view. Kel was sat in the back seat, Mihoshi in front and, aside from the mess Kel had swept from his chair, everything was normal.   
  
"Hi Kiyone," Mihoshi said cheerily. Kiyone sighed inwardly. Sometimes she wished Mihoshi would be a little more formal. Especially when there was someone else present. Resisting the urge to scream verbal abuse at her partner, Kiyone started.  
  
"Mihoshi, in a few moments we're going to stop that ship."  
  
"Right." Mihoshi answered steadily.  
  
"Get Yukinojo to monitor it. When you see a missile hit it, start an intercept course."  
  
"Missile? You're not going to..." Started Mihoshi worriedly. Kel too, was looking shocked.  
  
"No don't worry," Kiyone interjected, "It's a dud Washu's rigged up. It'll stop the engines, but leave the ship structurally undamaged. Until then keep a constant distance from it, we still don't know if it's armed or not."  
  
"Oh, good...Right, yes will do." Mihoshi answered simply.  
  
"Signing off." Kiyone stated as she flicked the 'end transmission' button. Kiyone then leaned back into her seat and frowned. Something had been bugging her throughout her brief conversation with Mihoshi. What the hell was it? Mihoshi was in full uniform, the cockpit was still a mess, Yukinojo was present, Kel was in the seat behind her...wait a minute. Kiyone burst out laughing even as she realised what was wrong. Kel. His mouth was smeared with Mihoshi's lipstick.   
  
"Well, you heard Kiyone Yukinojo." Mihoshi spoke as the transmission died away.   
  
"Yes Ma'am." Stated Yukinojo without emotion. Mihoshi looked over her shoulder and stared at Kel.  
  
"Do you think she suspected anything?" She asked mischievously.  
  
"Naa," Kel answered, licking his lips, "I think we got away with it."  
  
"Sir," the dusty ship's computer system sighed into life, "Sir, we are being tailed."  
  
"What?" Nikito barked angrily. "Who?"  
  
"Two registered GP ships and Ryo-oh-ki."  
  
Nikito smiled suddenly. Not all of his prey was this amusing. He grinned n the direction of the computer's disembodied voice.  
  
"No doubt Tenchi's little chums come to ask for him back." He said shaking his head. "Power up the lasers."  
  
Kiyone glanced down and the red button that was now flashing merrily and her eyes widened.  
  
"Washu! WASHU!" Kiyone screamed franticly behind her. Washu's head appeared in a hole in the floor that led to the lower decks. Her maroon hair was more unkempt than usual, and her face was blackened slightly.   
  
"What?" She said simply.  
  
"We've been spotted, the bastard's powering up his lasers!"  
  
"Oh." Washu commented with the air of someone who was mildly interested in something. Kiyone could scarcely believe her ears.  
  
"Oh?! OH?! What the hell do you mean, oh?! We're going to be fucking shot at for God's sake! I haven't time for this. Just go downstairs and hold on."  
  
Washu merely shrugged and climbed back down the ladder. Shaking her head and muttering something under her breath, Kiyone switched the ship from auto to manual. Unfortunately Yagami could only detect when lasers had been powered up; Kiyone had to judge when they would be fired. Thinking quickly she opened a second transmission to Yukinojo. If one of the laser blasts missed Yagami, there was a chance that it could hit Yukinojo. Keeping one eye on the speck in the distance and one on the frustratingly slow communications screen, Kiyone cursed under her breath. After what seemed like aeons, the screen jumped, and blinked into life.  
  
"Mihoshi!" Kiyone half screamed. "He's powered up his lasers! Evasive manoeuvres!"   
  
"What?! Yes, okay!" Mihoshi replied uncertainly. Kel remained in his seat and went silently white. Kiyone raised her eyebrows. With that bubble head at the controls she couldn't blame him.   
  
"Follow my lead." Kiyone said simply by way of signing off. She then reached out, flicked a switch and the holo-screen magically disappeared. Kiyone returned to squinting into the distance to try and make out when the lasers would be fired. The ship was equipped with shields of course, and the hull was reinforced, but if Nikito got a lucky hit on the fuel tanks...well it didn't bear thinking about. Suddenly two explosions of white light erupted from the speck in the distance. Okay, two shots, no problem. In her daily job Kiyone had evaded hundreds of such attacks. Except these weren't warning shots. And then she'd been allowed to fight back. Pushing her thoughts aside, Kiyone sized the steering column and swung the ship violently to the left, and the to the right so that the white-hot laser bolts passed under the starboard and port sides respectively. Even as the gigantic ship lolled back to its original course, Kiyone shouted for Washu.  
  
"Washu! How much longer?"  
  
"Okay, okay, hang on...there. OK, ready!" The redhead's voice drifted up from the hatch, closely followed by the redhead. Wiping her blackened forehead with the back of a gloved hand, she staggered slightly into the spare chair next to Kiyone.   
  
"You're sure?" Kiyone asked.  
  
"Course I'm sure, I'm only the universe's greatest (and cutest) genius!" Washu replied, pulling a fan from somewhere secret and holding it just below her chin. Kiyone stared at her incredulously.   
  
"Yes, I'm sure. Just fire the damn missile." Washu said, putting the fan away sulkily.  
  
Kiyone turned to her screen and checked that the ship was still locked on. She then rested her finger on the button that would send the dud high- explosive missile free from it's housing and off into the coldness of space. She hesitated. Despite what Washu had said she still wasn't sure about it. Kiyone had seen what live missiles of that type could do. A direct hit on the ship Tenchi was in would be more than enough to reduce it to countless charred fragment and a cluster of noble gasses. Kiyone dismissed her thoughts and scolded herself silently. If Washu said it was ok then it was ok. Shrugging, she jabbed at the button with a slender finger.  
  
"A missile has left Yagami, Miss Mihoshi." Yukinojo's familiar monotone rang out.  
  
"Good," Mihoshi breathed. "Intercept course."  
  
"Wait, hang on, what about the lasers?" Kel put in quickly.  
  
"Good question." Mihoshi added thoughtfully. "Yukinojo?"  
  
"If Misses Washu and Kiyone are knocking out the ships engines, it is likely that they will use an EMP pulse, since from the information I gathered from the computer card, the ship is electrical. If so, the lasers will be inoperative, since they too run off electrical power."  
  
"Okay." Mihoshi said thinking. "Okay. Erm...intercept course, but keep the weapons armed."  
  
"Yes, ma'am." Yukinojo replied.  
  
Mihoshi sat back in the chair and grinned broadly, in spite of herself. She appeared to have made a sensible suggestion, and no one had found a fault with it. Then she reminded herself of why she was there and stopped grinning. She nodded curtly in Yukinojo's direction, as the dome-headed robot brought the ship past Yagami, towards the faraway vessel. With an intergalactic 'Miyamaow' Ryo-oh-ki followed them.   
  
The dull thud rang out all around the converted Juraian ship, so that even the weary Tenchi lurched his head in the direction of the noise. Nikito had also heard it and was at that moment was striding the length of the ship to the bridge. The noise he had heard had probably been a rogue asteroid, but in his line of work you couldn't afford to make assumptions. As he approached his destination he saw that the electrical door had been fused open. Jogging into the room, he addressed the computer in his usual manner.   
  
"Computer!"  
  
His gruff voice echoed around the dark bridge and he was promptly answered by a stony silence.  
  
"Computer!!" he called a second time, more angrily. The computer's silence told him pretty much everything he needed to know.  
  
"No!" he screamed furiously, then stopped suddenly. There was no way that those little bastards could take his latest subject right from under his nose and (what the hell,) he could do with a new ship. A thin bloodless smile oozed across Nikito's face. All he had to do was wait.   
  
Kel gazed out of Yukinojo's front window in wonder at the wood and metal ship. Now that it was in space it seemed a hell of a lot bigger. In the last ten minutes that they had been cruising cautiously up to the ship, Kel had showed Mihoshi how to reload the gun, how to chamber a round, how to aim and so on. Mihoshi had insisted that he take a spare GP Blaster as a replacement. Kel was more than a little dubious of it. It was heavy, bulky, and it wouldn't fit in his now spare holster. Still, it couldn't hurt to carry it around. With any luck, he wouldn't need it anyway. Tearing his gaze away from the sight that filled his window, Kel pulled the vaguely oval shaped weapon from his pocket. It was about the size of his outstretched palm, folded up, but when the handle was snapped to a right angle with the flat circular barrel, the Blaster took on a recognisable shape. Apparently the hammer glowed red when it was empty, and then he'd have to slap in a new charge pack. Mihoshi had said that each pack gave about twelve shots. Re-pocketing the Blaster and shaking his head, Kel looked over to Mihoshi, who looked rigid with terror. Kel opted to remain silent at this point, as he doubted that he could say anything to help her. He glanced over his shoulder to Yosho, who had entered the cockpit when Mihoshi had politely informed him that they had almost reached their destination. He looked focused, almost ready for anything. Deciding to go back to looking at the ship that was continually taking up space in window, Kel felt a familiar feeling in the pit of his stomach.   
  
"How close do we have to be for you to take us on board?" Kel asked.  
  
"Just a little farther." Mihoshi answered.  
  
About sixty seconds later Mihoshi pointed to an opening on the side of the ship.   
  
"There! That's our vantagepoint. Yukinojo's too big to dock there, but I can transport us there using this." Mihoshi said, pulling the puffball from her hip, where it instantly morphed into the crystal cube.  
  
"Fair enough." Kel stated. Yosho simply moved to behind Mihoshi and placed a hand on her shoulder. Guessing what was coming, Kel rose from his seat and stood beside Yosho. 'Here we go again,' He thought.  
  
Mihoshi made the familiar hand movements with the small cube, and Kel shut his eyes tight. He felt the same feeling he'd felt when Mihoshi had first transported them, although obviously without the watery bit. When he opened them again, he was standing in a vast white room, that looked new, and yet old at the same time. The walls were bright white, and they clashed violently with the jet-black floor. In the corners where the walls met the ceiling there was what looked like fluorescent lights, but there was no way of telling, as they weren't lit. There was a corridor leading into darkness in front of them, but it was the wall behind them that really caught Kel's attention. Simply because there wasn't one. Whichever way he looked at it, it looked as if there was no front to the room, just a gaping hole into outer space.   
  
"Mihoshi?" Kel called out apprehensively, "What the hell is that?"  
  
"Mm?" Mihoshi answered. "What's what?"  
  
"That hole. Why isn't there a wall there?"  
  
"Oh, right, yeah, this is a docking bay for small mining craft. That hole's there to let them in."  
  
"Why haven't we been sucked into space?"  
  
"There's a force field across the bay doors that keeps the air pressure inside constant. It can be dropped to allow ships in."  
  
"Why wasn't it knocked out with the EMP bomb?"  
  
"Um, I dunno, it must run off a battery or somethin'"  
  
"Oh, okay."  
  
Yosho and Mihoshi turned and stared out into space, just in time to see Ryo-oh-ki swoop towards the open bay, pause just before brushing the force field, and turn into a blue stream of light that projected itself onto the bay floor. As soon as the beam touched the floor two figures appeared. Well, two figures and a small cabbit. Ayeka, Ryoko and Ryo-oh-ki.   
  
"I never knew you could do that!" Kel said, addressing Ryo-oh-ki. The creature meowed happily before scampering up Ryoko's heavenly figure and perching on her shoulder.  
  
"Okay then, if we're going to find Tenchi quickly we should split up. I say we meet back here in twenty minutes. If no one's found Tenchi in that time we'll try and gain access to another floor and try again." Ryoko called out to the group. "Someone wait for us here until we get back."  
  
For a moment nobody said anything, and Kel could understand why. No one wanted to be the one who got left behind, although for different reasons. Then after an uncomfortable silence, Yosho spoke up.  
  
"I will wait here for you to return."  
  
"Thanks." Ryoko answered, sounding relieved. "Okay, lets get going."  
  
Cautiously, the space pirate, the princess, the GP officer and the dimension hopper strode towards the corridor. It was so dark where they were walking that Kel found that he couldn't see at first, but as they progressed Kel found that his eyes gradually adjusted to the gloom. He heard a soft whimper a little way behind him. Half-turning, he saw Mihoshi's outline coming towards him. He paused to allow her to catch up, and took her hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze. Although he couldn't see her face, Kel hoped that he had helped her. The quartet walked along the darkened corridor for another ten or fifteen meters before they hit a fork, and were faced with two more walkways.   
  
"Okay, Ayeka and I'll go this way, you and Mihoshi go that way." Ryoko said, indicating to the left-hand branch. With a grim nod, Kel led the way to the left hand opening followed by Mihoshi. The way in front of them didn't look any different from the corridor they had just left, dark and dusty. Still struggling to see where they were going, Kel pulled the GP Blaster from his pocket and folded it out as they stalked onward. Hearing a soft click beside him, Kel glanced over to Mihoshi and saw that she had pulled his Colt from inside her jacket and had just chambered a round. They tuned a corner, Kel going first. Pointing the Blaster straight ahead of him, Kel scanned the new room for anything that might pose a threat. He found none. But what was there made a low groan escape his throat.   
  
"What's wrong- oh." Mihoshi started, stepping behind him and seeing what he saw. The room that they were in was fairly plain except that there was a viewing window on the left-hand wall. Other than that the room was empty, except for the two doorways that stood side by side on the opposite wall.   
  
"Well," Kel said pushing the Blaster into the back of his jeans, "any door preference?"  
  
"No, not really." Mihoshi sighed sadly.  
  
"Okay then, er... I'll take the right door, you take the left door." Kel said uncertainly.  
  
"Okay then." Mihoshi said even more uncertainly. Mihoshi turned to walk through her doorway, but Kel called after her.  
  
"Listen Mihoshi," emotion cracking into his voice, "If you see him, Nikito, I mean, please, for God's sake run. He didn't think twice about attacking Sasami, he'll drop any of us as soon as he sees us."  
  
Mihoshi stood perfectly still, but Kel's Colt slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor with a clatter. With tears streaming down her face, she ran to Kel and embraced him around the chest. Kel wrapped his arms around her petite waist and the pair kissed, each drinking up the other in long heady gulps. Finally breaking apart, Mihoshi rested her head on Kel's shoulder and cried heavily into his shoulder.  
  
"This...this has never happened to me..." Mihoshi wept.   
  
"That's okay, that's okay, me neither." Kel tried to say as soothingly as possible. After another minute Mihoshi pushed away from Kel and retrieved the dropped gun.  
  
"Okay then, lets get Tenchi and get out of here!" Mihoshi said, trying to sound cheerful as she bushed a lock of her golden her behind her pointed ear. Kel checked his watch.   
  
"Okay, don't forget to meet back at the bay in ten minutes." He said with a sad smile. Mihoshi nodded and once again took out her cube. Giving it one quick twist, the familiar shimmer appeared and her galaxy police uniform was gone. In its place was a skin tight red, black and purple battle suit, with weird disk-like extensions over the hands.  
  
"Y'know, when normal people want to change clothes they use this thing called a wardrobe." Kel said with a grin. Mihoshi smiled back at him through her tear stained face. Kel stood and watched her disappear into the darkened doorway. Taking a deep breath, pulling the Blaster from behind him and checking his watch again, Kel stepped through his own doorway. He thanked whatever passed for a God in the dimension he was presently in that there were no more forks in the corridor in front of him. With any luck he'd be able to check out the rooms at the end of this branch and then he'd be able to find Mihoshi and head back to the bay. Even as he thought this he came to a bend in the path, and the air became denser. There seemed to be a single room up ahead, but whether there would be any more doors there remained to be seen. There was a strange smell that hung in the air too, not a very pleasant one. It reminded Kel of something, but he couldn't quite think what. Rotting fruit, maybe? Something like that anyway. Feeling slightly worried now; Kel jogged the last few meters into the room, his Blaster at the ready. Like the other rooms this one was fairly barren, except this one had a long table in it, on top of which sat a laptop computer. Kel moved over to it to get a better look. Even though it wasn't working, Kel tapped a few of the keys anyway. It looked expensive. Kel turned away from it, positively pleased that the room had nothing else to offer. He would be able to see if Mihoshi had had any luck in finding Tenchi, and if not they would both be able to see if Ryoko and Ayeka had had any luck. Kel was about to leave when he noticed the door behind him. It was silver coloured, and hidden in shadow, so he hadn't seen it. He looked back towards the corridor and shook his head. His conscience wouldn't allow him to leave without at least checking what was behind that door. Turning, he strode over to it. There was no obvious way of getting it open, although there was a switch beside it. With idiotic optimism, Kel flicked it back and forth a few times, but to no avail. Now that he was staring at it this door seemed to be quite crudely put together. The wall around it looked as though it had been chiselled away to accommodate it. The smell also seemed to be strongest next to the door. Unsure of what to do, Kel tapped the door lightly. The metal rattled loosely in the doorframe. It felt thin, probably something like aluminium. The switch would most likely operate an automatic lock. Sighing, Kel took a step back and aimed a kick near the bottom of the door. The door ballooned inwards at the point of impact, forcing a corner of the metal away from the doorframe towards Kel. Seizing the bent metal, Kel pulled, and slowly but surely the door relented, and a hole large enough for Kel to duck under emerged.   
  
The first thing that Kel noticed about the room was the smell. It hit him like a brick to the face, and he instinctively covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve. Then his brain registered what he was looking at. The room in which Kel was now standing was absolutely littered with bodies. They looked as though they had just been dumped, unceremoniously stacked up against the wall. It was obvious that they had all been burnt, as the ones that hadn't started to decompose all had blistered charred flesh. Desperately trying not to throw up, Kel stared in wide-eyed horror around the room. Most of the bodies appeared to be male, but Kel could see what appeared to be female Juraians among the mess of death. Kel could feel his legs beginning to weaken underneath him, so he thought it would be a good idea to exit the room post haste. As he staggered from the macabre sight in the room, Kel leant on the glass table and swallowed hard. He had to warn the others, the psycho they were dealing with was no ordinary psycho. Kel kept still for a moment whilst his breathing slowed to normal and his head started to feel less light. Then he pushed himself from the table and jogged back down the corridor. After a few moments running he found himself at the spot where he and Mihoshi had parted company. Now he was faced with a difficult decision. He could either go after Mihoshi in the other corridor, or he could run back to the bay and tell Yosho what he had found. Not knowing what to do, he checked his watch. It was about five minutes until they were supposed to meet back anyway. He stood for a further ten seconds deciding. He glanced in the direction Mihoshi had gone, sighed, and tore off towards the bay. There was a chance that she had already headed back, and besides, he could always go back once he had warned Yosho and the others. At his top sprinting speed it didn't take him long to cover the distance between the junction and the bay. He burst breathlessly into the bay, and instantly felt like he was at the butt of a sick joke that wasn't funny. Yosho lay lifelessly in the centre of the room, his sword hilt lying a feet away.   
  
Ryoko and Ayeka crept down the poorly lit corridor, using only the faint glow that Ryoko's sword gave off to see by. The yellowish light illuminated Ryoko's scowl and reflected off her golden eyes making her look even more like a cat. The tension was so high that Ryo-oh-ki crawled into a pouch on Ryoko's side and remained silent. Ayeka followed cautiously, thankful that Ryoko could not see her face. Her voice, however gave her emotions away.  
  
"Ryoko?...Do you think Lord Tenchi will be...okay?" She asked, fearing the answer.  
  
"Yes." Came the immediate response, through gritted teeth.  
  
"Oh." Ayeka squeaked, both surprised and relieved at the same time. Ryoko obviously picked up on this.  
  
"Because if he isn't," Ryoko continued, "nothing will matter anymore."  
  
"What do you mean?" Ayeka asked softly.  
  
"If Tenchi isn't okay, nothing will matter anymore. I'll kill that Juraian bastard, I'll kill myself..." Ryoko paused and allowed herself a sad smile.  
  
Ayeka nodded slowly at this. For some reason, it neither scared nor surprised her. She supposed that it was because if Tenchi was dead, nothing would matter for her either. They rounded a corner in the corridor and were met with a set of steel doors that were firmly jammed shut. Ayeka stepped forward and lightly touched the door.  
  
"It doesn't look like we can get any further."   
  
Ryoko rolled her eyes.  
  
"Get out of the way."  
  
Ayeka's eyes widened and she leapt as much as stepped out of the way, just as one of Ryoko's power blasts obliterated the doors. Lowering her arm, Ryoko paced forward, attempting to be ready for whatever was on the other side of the door. Unfortunately, the sight of Tenchi strung up to some bizarre machinery like some macabre wall hanging took her by surprise. A flurry of emotions darted through Ryoko in an instant, fear relief, confusion, to name but a few. She was vaguely aware of a flash of purple hair past her face. Tears welling in her eyes, she dropped to her knees and buried her face in her arms, crying hysterically.  
  
As soon as the doors had fallen away and the smoke had cleared, Ayeka had rushed into the doorway, desperate to know whether of not Tenchi was on the other side. On reflection, Ayeka marvelled at how it was possible to experience two completely conflicting emotions at the same time. She saw Tenchi fixed to the machinery and ran to his side, without thinking. She struggled against the clasps binding Tenchi, but it didn't take her long to realise that that she wasn't going to be able to budge them. Thinking quickly, she lifted Tenchi's slumped head and tried to get a response from him. Not getting anywhere, she checked his pulse, and found that it was all over the place. One minute it would be fairly slow, the next it would be racing. Ayeka was no medical expert, but she knew that that wasn't good, and she also knew that if they didn't get Tenchi off the ship and into Washu's care he might die.  
  
"Ryoko!" Ayeka shouted. "Ryoko, help me break these clasps on Tenchi!"  
  
Ryoko didn't seem to hear. In fact she didn't even move from her curled up position.  
  
"Ryoko!!" Ayeka shouted more urgently. "He's still alive!"  
  
Still Ryoko didn't move. Disbelieving, Ayeka looked back and forth between the comatose Tenchi and the quietly hysterical Ryoko. Without thinking, she ran to Ryoko, and lifted her roughly by the shoulders.  
  
"TENCHI'S STILL ALIVE! WE NEED TO GET HIM TO WASHU!" Ayeka screamed into Ryoko's face. "I NEED YOUR HELP!"  
  
Ryoko seemed to snap out of her devastated stupor at this.  
  
"We can save him." Ayeka said, lowering her voice but maintaining the same urgent tone.  
  
Ryoko nodded and turned her tear-streaked face away from Ayeka, breaking her gaze at her for the first time.  
  
"Yes." Ryoko said determinedly. She strode over to Tenchi and severed his restrains with ease. She made sure to catch Tenchi's limp body as he fell out of his steel frame with a soft sigh. Ryoko and Ayeka exchanged looks. Ryoko held Tenchi close and held his head upright. He blearily opened his eyes.  
  
"Ryoko? Ayeka?" he babbled in confusion. "I..." But that was all that came out. Ayeka nodded grimly at Ryoko, and they hoisted Tenchi's arms over their shoulders. Ryoko could have carried him easily herself of course, but she got the feeling that Ayeka wanted to help, and although it went against her usual principals, she was glad of Ayeka's company. It figured: The one time she and Ayeka were being friendly towards each other, and Tenchi was unconscious for it. She blinked as Kel's words drifted through her mind. She nodded to herself with determination. It still mattered. The game was far from over.   
  
What the hell was going on? Kel raced to Yosho's side, skidding slightly as he stopped. He bent down and lifted Yosho's face. He placed his hand close to Yosho's mouth and felt a warm breeze on his hand. At least he was still breathing. Kel heard a faint swish behind him, like someone making an almost silent entrance. Kel's eyes flitted left and, trying not to be too obvious he slowly reached for Mihoshi's Blaster. As soon as his palm wrapped around the cool metal that made up the strange gun Kel instantly felt in control. Sadly, it wasn't until he had turned around that he realised he was mistaken.  
  
"I wouldn't worry about him." An oily voice said, it's owner stepping out from the corridor's shadow. "If he isn't dead yet he soon will be. Well, you all will be soon won't you." He added with a small laugh. Not one to be out-cooled, Kel calmly stared back and raised a single eyebrow.  
  
"Nikito?"  
  
The Juraian smiled a thin bloodless smile.   
  
"Yosho filled you in on who I am, did he?"  
  
"He filled me in on what you are." Kel shot back.  
  
"Yes, well I shall enjoy exacting my revenge on him later." Nikito snarled. He eyed Kel up and down as though seeing him for the first time.  
  
"And you are?"  
  
"I'm the guy you dropped when you took Tenchi." Kel said, raising Mihoshi's Blaster and training it on Nikito's chest. Nikito made no effort to move or even arm himself.  
  
"Now I remember you." Nikito continued, as if he hadn't noticed that he was now being threatened. "Well you have my apologies. I was aiming for the girl."  
  
Kel clenched his teeth determined to keep calm. It was a fight just to keep himself from pulling the trigger on the strange gun he now had pointed at the alien man. Looking at Nikito's build, and the way he reacted when he had pulled out his gun, Kel doubted whether he could do any damage to Nikito at all. If he was to stand any chance in this fight, there was one vital item he needed...  
  
"Lets do this." Nikito drawled softly. 'Keep the bastard talking!' Kel screamed silently to himself.  
  
"Can you promise me a fair fight?" Kel shouted out, unable to think of anything else to say. As he said this he allowed his spare hand to casually fall to his pocket, where, without looking down, he extracted a small device and clipped it to his belt. Mercifully, Nikito did not seem to notice. He did smile his humourless smile again though.   
  
"Didn't Yosho tell you? I never fight fair."  
  
'Fine by me you son of a bitch...' Kel thought, as Nikito pulled the sword hilt from his belt loop. Nikito took hold of this hilt and must have activated a secret mechanism somewhere, because in the next instant a white energy blade formed at the hilt. Kel groaned.   
  
He checked his aim one final time, and tensed himself to charge Nikito, when the warrior raised his arm and pointed his palm at Kel.   
  
'Fair enough...'  
  
Kel glanced down and side-stepped left, an instant before one of Nikito's power bolts obliterated the section of floor he'd been standing on. Kel looked down at the blackened smouldering crater that could have been him. He smiled a small smile. At least now he could evade the Juraian's attacks. He glanced down again and un-holstered his colt. Clearly, he had to keep moving. He strafed right and levelled Mihoshi's Blaster, glanced down, ducked and rolled away from Nikito's latest deadly attack, raised the gun, and squeezed off a shot. Nikito somehow rotated his sword in front of himself and blocked the charge that had spewed from the barrel of Mihoshi's gun.  
  
'Shit!'   
  
A third time Kel glanced down towards his belt.  
  
"Whoa!"  
  
Moving as fast as his tired body would allow, Kel dodged from his kneeling position and threw himself as far as he could, as the area immediately behind him exploded. As he scrabbled to get back on his feet, Kel reflected on how much things could change in just a few days. Another look to his belt, and Kel took another shot at the seemingly invincible man, but the charge went hopelessly wide.   
  
'Move, move!'  
  
Kel knew that to stand still was to die. Kel heard a noise coming from the direction of the corridor. It sounded like a feminine gasp of surprise. Whirling around, Kel saw Ryoko and Ayeka, supporting Tenchi between them. There wasn't time to ask where they'd found Tenchi or if he was okay, they had to leave. But he'd already been standing still far too long...  
  
"Ayeka! Ryoko! Take Tenchi and go! GO!" Kel shouted hysterically. The he looked down. His eyes widened. As fast and as hard as he could, Kel flung himself across the room, and again, the area where he'd been standing exploded. It was only then that Ryoko and Ayeka noticed Nikito. Without answering Kel, the girls ran towards the force-field wall, Ryo-oh-ki hopping nimbly out of Ryoko's hip pouch. However, Kel could see that they weren't running quickly enough, and that Nikito had already lost interest in him and was advancing on the girls and the comatose Tenchi, raising his arm, palm outwards...  
  
BAM!  
  
Once again adopting the classic shooter's stance, Kel fired his colt for the first time during the battle. The high-tension wire thundered out of his gun and thudded into the Juraian's sword hilt. Kel marvelled at how well he could shoot when given a chance to aim. Kel gave the gun a mighty yank, and, combined with the gun reeling itself in, was enough to pull Nikito away from Tenchi and the girls. As his body twisted around to face Kel, his chest became exposed. Acting quickly, he pointed the Blaster and fired. Direct hit, dead in the chest. Nikito reeled, and wore and expression as if he couldn't believe what was happening. Then to Kel's horror, he regained his balance, smiled his horrible slit of a smile, and severed the wire with ease.  
  
Nikito was quite pleased. It was such a rarity that any of his opponents put up this much of a fight. It wasn't like he really cared, but whoever this guy was he was FAST. Nikito had been trying to kill him for literally minutes now, which had to be some kind of record. It was like he moved before Nikito acted, almost as if he could read Nikito's very thoughts... Hang on. That was why the bastard kept looking down to the device clipped to his belt. Nikito almost admired him.  
  
'Well, that can be easily remedied.' Nikito thought, raising his arm as Kel stumbled into his line of fire.  
  
"Ryoko!!!" Kel bellowed at the top of his lungs from the floor. Ryoko made sure that Ayeka had tight hold of Tenchi, and spun on the spot.  
  
"Take Yosho!" Kel continued, indicating to the sprawled figure of Yosho a few meters away from her. Ryoko nodded, darted over to Yosho, and scooped him up in a fireman's lift easily.  
  
"Come on!" She yelled back to him.  
  
"He'll try to follow you!" Kel shouted, getting up. "And someone has to wait for Mihoshi!"  
  
Ryoko stared sadly at him for a moment, then nodded. She turned on her heel, and the next thing Kel saw was Ryo-oh-ki beam them all off the ship. Well, all he had to do now was find Mihoshi, and get the hell off the ship. With any luck, they'd then be able to blow the twisted ship from existence from Yagami. Kel pushed himself up from the floor, and stumbled backwards as he did so.  
  
BOOM!  
  
Something red hot and rock hard smashed into Kel's hip with a sickening crack. He was spun round by the force of the blast, and fell to the floor. He looked down at himself. If it wasn't a broken bone then it was certainly severely burnt like the blast he received before. At the time, Kel was more scared about how close the blast had been to his groin. Whilst thanking heaven for small mercies, Kel noticed that the mind reader had melted into an indistinguishable nugget of black plastic that was stuck to the charred mess that used to be his jeans. Twisting, and trying to ignore the pain as best he could, he reached for the Blaster, aimed it...  
  
And the gun responded with a disappointing click. The hammer glowed red. Wearily, Kel threw away the now useless gun, and raised his colt...  
  
Which also clicked, signalling his defeat.  
  
'No...'  
  
"Nice try kid." Nikito chuckled. "If it's any conciliation, you lasted longer than anyone else I've battled lately."  
  
Then, just as Kel didn't think things could get any worse, they got worse.  
  
A small pain was beginning to form in his chest, and it was steadily beginning to grow. Familiar recognition flowed through Kel, and he doubled up as the pain registered.  
  
"Hurts doesn't it?" Nikito taunted as he walked casually towards Kel. "Don't worry, I'll make sure all of your little friends hurt just as much as you do."  
  
'Son of a BITCH...'  
  
Kel clawed at his pocket for the syringe, but just as his fingertips found it Nikito aimed a deft kick at his forehead, and it was sent scuttling across the room. Overcome by pain and his now double vision, Kel rocked back and forth on his hands and knees, and a primordial scream escaped his lips.  
  
"Do you want me to put you out of your misery?" Nikito continued to taunt. "Oh, alright then."  
  
Knowing he was going to die, despite the pain, Kel raised his head and stared at Nikito. He had had his sword held in an outstretched arm, held high and behind his head. Kel could tell by the angle that Nikito was going to be aiming for his neck.  
  
'At least Tenchi and the others are safe. My one regret is that I didn't manage to get Mihoshi to safety.'   
  
Kel closed his eyes.  
  
"STOP!" a voice rang out in the cavernous room, that made Kel half turn and Nikito's eyes flit up.  
  
'Mihoshi?' the one word bounced around Kel's tired brain. She was framed in the doorway and held Kel's colt out with one outstretched arm, pointed at Nikito's head.  
  
"I'm...sorry..." She murmured, tears streaked down her ebony face. For Kel what happened next seemed to happen in slow motion. He saw the hammer fall, and the barrel move backwards. He saw the flash and puff off smoke from the gun, he saw the recoil throw Mihoshi's forearm back, and he saw Nikito crumple to the floor, and his sword flicker and die. He saw Nikito depart the earth, leaving behind only the rapidly fading echo of the gunshot. Kel stared at Mihoshi, his pain momentarily forgotten. Mihoshi stared at Kel with a wide-eyed expression, and then, her eyes rolled back and she fell a way in a dead faint.  
  
* * *  
  
The sunlight crept into the bedroom through a crack in the curtains, only partially revealing the bed's occupant. Somewhere in the shadows someone coughed. The rooms other occupant was completely hidden in the darkness. Kel had been standing at Mihoshi's bedside for some time now; for himself as much for Mihoshi. Once again he tried to recall the events that unfolded after Mihoshi had shot Nikito. He had some hazy image of crawling to the syringe and injecting himself, then finding Mihoshi's cube and taking them on board Yagami. He was fairly sure that he must have related his version of event as best he could to Yagami, then...then nothing. Just a warm darkness. He'd woken up in the room next to Mihoshi, so he thought he'd wait here until she woke up. By a happy coincidence, the painkillers that he'd been taking for his lung also killed the pain in his hip and face. He'd probably have to see Washu about that later, but they didn't hurt now, so it could wait. He strode over to Mihoshi's bedside and looked at her. She still looked as beautiful as she'd looked when Kel had first seen her. There was just...one thing that wasn't quite right. It took Kel a moment to put his finger on it. There was nothing about this girl he didn't like. Softly, he leaned forward and planted a kiss on her smooth forehead. It may have been his imagination, but he thought he saw the corners of her mouth rise slightly. Smiling too, Kel retreated to the shadows to maintain his vigil.   
  
One thing that was bothering him was that final battle with Nikito. Did he do the right thing? Did not fighting with honour make him as bad as Nikito? Was it better to die with honour than to live with shame? You could preach about honour all you wanted, but in the end...  
  
It would be Kel who was still standing. He looked over to Mihoshi. Her eye twitched slightly.  
  
'Heh. She's dreaming.'  
  
He smiled. Being saved by someone you loved. For Kel there was no greater honour.  
  
There was a soft tap at the door.  
  
"Come in." Kel called softly. The door opened slowly and Tenchi stepped into the room, closing the door lightly behind him.  
  
"Oh, Hi." Kel said surprised. "How'er you feeling?"  
  
"Better, thanks," Tenchi replied, "still tired and sore, but better."  
  
Kel nodded his gaze returning to Mihoshi.  
  
"How's Mihoshi?" Tenchi asked tentatively.  
  
"She still hasn't woke up, but physically she seems fine. Only..."  
  
"Only?"  
  
"She'll probably be upset when she wakes up. She went though a lot on that ship."  
  
Tenchi stared sadly at the floor.  
  
"Listen," Tenchi said, "I just wanted to thank you for helping me. I know you did a lot for me in there.  
  
"Hey, no problem," Kel answered with a grin. "Call it a payback for providing me with a place to stay."  
  
At this Tenchi laughed.  
  
"Sounds like a good deal to me."  
  
"Oh, by the way," he continued, "you know I've finally chosen which," he paused and looked around, "girl I prefer?"  
  
"Really? So you've finally reached a decision?" Kel grinned in mock disbelief.  
  
"Yes." Tenchi beamed. "Yes, I think I have."   
  
THE END.  
  
Authors notes:  
  
Well, that's it, thank god it's over. This was my first fan-fic, so thanks very much for reading it, I hoped you liked it. Please send me e-mail as I'd really appreciate the input, particularly on whether or not you'd like to see more of Kel, or if you think that this should be his one appearance into the annals or Tenchi fan-fic. I'd noticed from reading other peoples fan-fics that a lot of people included songs in their fics, so I thought I might as well include one as well. I chose "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" simply because it's my favourite song. And no, I don't have a clue what the lyrics mean, but it rocks hard, so there you are. Oh yeah, it's the property of Scott Litt and REM. Not mine. I'm going to write some cross overs next, and they're not going to be as long as this one. Many thanks to Simon for proof reading this, and to Jerome for telling how to write it.  
  
So that's it. Once again, hoped you liked it, sorry if you didn't, and please mail me.  
  
A final word of warning; I have the social life of your average iceberg lettuce, so if you mail me I WILL reply, so if you don't like receiving obscene threatening e-mails I suggest that you don't criticise me or my work in an offensive manner.  
  
I thank you. 


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